A Father's Love
by Sasuke-n-Tomatoes
Summary: Even if her mother's words and actions were comforting and meaningful, it still couldn't erase the pain in her chest. She needed her papa. She needed him very much. AU. SasuSaku&SasuSara
1. i

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto and its characters.

 **Title:** A Father's Love

 **Summary:** Even if her mother's words and actions were comforting and meaningful, it still couldn't erase the pain in her chest. She needed her papa. She needed him very much. AU. SasuSaku&SasuSara

 **Rating:** T

.

.

.

 _~When you're gone~_

 _The pieces of my heart are missing you~_

 _~When you're gone~_

 _~The face I came to know is missing, too~_

– _Avril Lavigne_

 _._

 _._

 _._

i

 _Everyone has different values – some of them might be acceptable, some of them might not be. Each person in this world has a different perspective and they know what is better for themselves and what is not._ _I believe that the most significant value is a family. Some kids who are my age don't even comprehend how important their families are. They don't realise that the reason why their parents get worried and upset about their wrongs and stupidities is because they care about them._ _It's unfair that there are kids and teens want to have families but don't have any because they were either abandoned or their relatives died in an accident. It breaks my heart to know that there are many orphans out there. They deserve better._ _I am not saying that those children – who feel like their parents are their worst enemies – should know the pain of losing someone close to them. I just wish they would appreciate the people who care about them._

Ebony eyes scorned over the paper to see if there were any mistakes. As she finished doing so, she set her pen down on the table. It wasn't the most perfect essay she had written but at least it was logical... and a little emotional, she guessed. That is if Aburame-sensei will appreciate. Not to mention the fact, they were only given twenty minutes to finish it She would definitely use that as an excuse to her mother if she gets a bad grade.

Sarada thought that Mr. Aburame was one of the most – if not the most – emotionless people she had ever met. It was also weird that he always wore those black glasses. Was it even allowed for a teacher to wear them in the class? The girl shrugged. It wasn't like it really mattered. Besides, he never got in trouble for doing so.

Suddenly the bell rang as she slightly jumped in her seat and heard disappointed groans and whines from her other classmates. The girl actually felt sorry for them because she remembered how she almost fainted last week when they were working on a biology project and she didn't even finish it halfway.

"Place your pens on the table and don't touch the paper... unless, you want me to mark it with a lower grade." Aburame-sensei said calmly as he walked around the classroom and collected the compositions from everyone.

Sarada just sighed and hoped quietly that she wouldn't fail the essay.

.

.

.

"I can't believe he assigned an essay in the last twenty minutes! He didn't even warn us about it in the previous lesson!" ChouChou complained while walking together with Sarada to the cafeteria.

Sarada replied, "You know... my mom told me that in higher grades there will be surprise tests as well. She has even told me stories about her teacher who was very unpredictable and no one could really tell what he would do. Some of her classmates even skipped his lessons."

"Yeah but we are in the sixth grade!" whined the dark-skinned girl.

The ravenette couldn't deny that her friend had a valid point. In fact, she was also sulking – mentally – when she found out that they were having a surprise essay.

ChouChou sighed and muttered, "I will most likely fail the essay..."

"If it makes you feel better... I think I will also fail it." Sarada said sheepishly and scratched her head.

"YOU!?" ChouChou shrieked, "Are you serious!? No way!"

Sarada flinched at her friend's loud tone and felt a little embarrassed when some people started to stare at them. Nevertheless, she replied, "I don't think it was good. I can do better."

Her friend rolled her eyes and huffed, "Yeah, right! Sarada, you always think you are gonna fail whenever we have tests, yet in the end you have the best results in the class! Sometimes, it feels like you were born perfect..."

"I am not perfect." the raven haired girl said annoyed, "No one is. For example, I am not good in many type of sports. Only in swimming and cycling because those are the only ones I enjoy. Otherwise the whole gym thing... is like a whole another language to me."

"I don't think you even care about sports like basketball and football." commented ChouChou dryly and Sarada shrugged in response. She couldn't oppose to that.

And truthfully, the reason why she didn't care – or simply stopped to care – is because she didn't have the knowledge of how to do any of those sports. Her sensei never bothered to show or at least explain to her. He probably hated her, that's why.

"Anywaaay..." her friend drawled out, "Do we have planned anything special today?"

The ravenette pushed her glasses up and thought about it for a moment, "Well... I don't know if it's considered to be 'special' but we had a Math's test planned today."

And suddenly, the dark skinned girl stopped and became frozen. Sarada came to a stop as well and turned around to gaze at her friend in confusion, "ChouChou...?"

ChouChou just blinked a few times and then repeated Sarada's statement, "A Math's Test...? About what?"

"About decimal numbers."

"Say what!?" came an edgy reply from the startled girl, "HOLY CRAP! I know nothing about that theme! Not to mention the fact that I also forgot that we were even supposed to have a test today!"

The Uchiha girl anime sweat-dropped at her best friend's outburst as other pupils stared at them. She just nervously smiled at them and motioned with her hands that everything was alright. Afterwards, the ravenette turned her attention to her friend and lowly said: "ChouChou. First of all, don't scream. And second, you can revise everything about that theme before the test itself."

But the said girl just shook her head frantically and whispered, although loudly, "No way! You already know how hard it is for me to revise something! The moment I learn something is the moment I forget it! Besides, I am thinking of ditching school!"

"Shh! Speak quieter!" Sarada whispered harshly, "And ditching school!? But, ChouChou, you were already absent last week!"

"So what? Like it matters anyway," she replied nonchalantly, "Anyhow, I am going to report to the nurse's office that I feel sick so she could notify our homeroom teacher about my absence. If you want, you can come too."

Sarada just sighed and nodded, "Alright."

It's not like she had anything better to do, aside from eating lunch and interacting with her other classmates. She preferred to stay with ChouChou though.

.

.

.

ChouChou was still in the nurse's office as the nurse filled her absence slip so Sarada decided to wait for her outside. The ravenette sat outside on a bench which was near the school's entrance and munched on her salad and rice ball that her mother had prepared this morning. As she ate her food, the girl heard the sound of the heavy oak doors opening and turned around to see her friend coming out.

"I am baaack~" she sang out delighted, "Now that I have got my absence slip, I just have to wait for my dad!"

Sarada nodded at ChouChou's remark as she stuffed another chunk of salad in her mouth.

"Soooo...?" her friend drawled out.

The ravenette swallowed her food and glanced at the girl next to her, "Yes...?"

"Do you have any plans for this weekend?" the dark skinned girl questioned curiously.

The dark haired preteen paused at her eating and pondered for a moment or two, only to come up with nothing. After a while, she just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Not really. I will probably go cycling or something. What about you?"

The girl next to her just huffed.

"Sadly, I have to go visit my grandma this Saturday, together with dad. I already can tell it's going to suck a major butt, considering the fact there's nothing to do at grandma's house," her friend fumed irritated.

Sarada sat quietly on the bench as she listened to her friend's ranting while being lost in her own musings. ChouChou didn't understand that this was a perfect chance... to strengthen the bond between her and–

"I think... you should go," inquired Sarada softly as she poked her food with chopsticks.

A surprise flashed on ChouChou's face as she stared at her friend and then she scowled.

"Geez... you sure are a supportive friend! At least you could have expressed sympathy about the fact that I will probably die from boredom!" stated the dark skinned girl accusingly.

The ravenette was taken aback from the accusations and her stomach churned inside, "That... that is not what I meant or want to... I wasn't even talking about that..."

"Then what?"

Her lips were pressed firmly in a thin line and she felt a bitter feeling filling her chest as Sarada glared down at her shoes, "I think you should spend more time with your fath–"

"ChouChou!"

Both girls turned to the loud voice and saw ChouChou's father standing near his car. The girl next to her jumped on her feet – while slinging her backpack on her shoulder – and rushed to the chubby man.

"Hi, dad!" she exclaimed to her father.

"Heya, sport!" Chouji replied lively to his daughter, "How are you feeling?"

ChouChou just sighed and replied dejectedly, "Not good, dad. It's not as bad as it was the last time but I still don't feel good."

Her father became concerned and said, "That sure doesn't sound good. You definitely need to come home now."

However, Sarada knew it was just a facade and her friend was only pretending to be innocent while lying through her teeth. Though she couldn't help it but feel the insides of her twisting and the hollowness in her chest appear.

Suddenly, Chouji noticed the ravenette standing not too far from them and greeted her kindly, "Good-day there, Sarada-chan!"

The girl just nodded and replied back, "Hello to you as well, Akimichi-san. Well, I will be going back to class then..."

"Bye, Sarada!" ChouChou yelled at her friend while waving.

Sarada waved in return and started to head back to school. Truth to be told, she didn't want to linger there anymore. She saw how both ChouChou and her father interacted and it just made her feel... furious. The girl had felt rage building up inside her and it made her feel disgusted while watching them being together.

But under all that fury... she suffered from sadness and emptiness. The girl felt her heart clench as she reminded herself of the scene that just unfolded in front of her. Tears started to form in her eyes but she quickly wiped them away.

She didn't want to others to see her cry... to notice her anguish and grief.

.

.

.

Her onyx eyes just stared blankly ahead while roaming through the school's halls casually. School finally ended for her and she could go home now. To be honest, the girl was glad that school just ended because her day went too slowly for her liking. She wished this day would have gone faster because she was already annoyed with everything and–

"Hey, Sarada! What's up?" a voice snapped the girl out of her musings.

Sarada then focused her vision and in front of her stood her long-time friend... Boruto Uzumaki. They had known one another since they were infants, simply because her mom and his parents had known each other as well. The girl had grown fond of the blond over the years and considered him very close to her.

"Oh, hey, Boruto," she blandly replied, "Nothing much. You?"

"I suppose I am fine," the blond answered as he shrugged, "Anyway, I was wondering if you would like to come over to my house."

The ravenette pursed her lips and simply replied, "Sorry, I can't. I am busy."

It was a lie though but Sarada wasn't in a mood to do anything. She just wanted to lay down on her head and listen to her favourite rock bands. Moreover... she didn't want to meet Boruto's–

"I see."

The reply from the boy was calm but she could see the disappointment on his face. Suddenly, remorse passed through her for rejecting him and she started to speak frantically, "Boruto, I am really sorry! I promise I will make it up to you! We can even–"

"It's alright, Sarada," Boruto cut her of with a slight grin, "I understand if you can't come over today. Maybe some other time."

The girl nodded but there was still a frown plastered on her face, "Okay."

The boy looked perplexed for a while and concern flashed in his eyes. But he said nothing as he turned around to walk to the exit.

"You coming?"

She responded quietly, "Yeah."

As they continued to walk down the hallway towards the exit in silence, Sarada couldn't help but be grateful that no one was there to point out that the two of them were walking together.

In their class, Boruto was considered to be one of the 'cool people' because of his father being a popular businessman and he usually hung out with other people like him from their class and other classes. As for Sarada though – she just stuck by ChouChou's side and didn't hang out or talk with others. It didn't help that she was quite socially awkward and shy around others and was also regarded as the class's 'emo girl' by some other kids.

As they made it outside through the exit, the blond spoke, "Where is ChouChou, by the way?"

"She ditched after Literature's class because she was scared to get a bad grade in the Math's test," the ravenette replied.

"Really?" he raised one of his eye-brows, "That test wasn't hard though. What was she worried about?"

She just shrugged, "I don't know. All she said she didn't understand the theme."

"That's weird, I thought it was easy."

She shrugged her shoulders again in response as they walked towards the school's gates.

"There you are."

Both kids turned to the new voice and Sarada realised that it was Shikadai and his father approaching them. Boruto was the first one greet them, "Yo, uncle Shikamaru! You here to pick up Shikadai!?"

Sarada's stomach churned at the sight of Shikadai's father as she furrowed her eye-brows and set her lips in a thin line. She felt sick of the sight that was in front of her. Right at that moment the ravenatte wanted to leave so she wouldn't have to witness the interaction between Shikadai and his father.

"Actually, your father requested to drop you home after school," stated Shikamaru calmly as he stared at the blond boy.

But Boruto just scoffed at his statement and turned around, "Heh. As if. I am not going home! I am going to go and pay a visit to that Old man myself, in that case!"

He was about to rush out swiftly through the gates when his uncle's stern voice stopped him, "You shouldn't bother your father right now, Boruto. He as his company's manager has many responsibilities to attend to. He has got no time for fooling around."

While Sarada stayed impassive on the outside, she was completely hysteric on the inside. There were many emotions swirling inside of her but one of the most prominent was anger. She took a deep breath to calm herself and–

"I have to go. Bye."

The girl didn't stay to listen to their responses. She just left quietly.

.

.

.

 _Papa... and me..._ she mused to herself as she stared gloomily at the pictures in front of her.

 _As long as I can remember... we have never met each other before._

"Sarada, dinner is ready!" the girl glanced backwards as she heard the sound of her mother's sweet voice. Sighing dejectedly, she slowly made her way out of the small living room to the kitchen.

Her mother was there already waiting for her as she smiled. "Today, we are having noddles. I hope you don't mind, darling," the pink haired woman spoke with a gentle and soothing tone.

Sarada just shook her head in affirmative as she sat down on the wooden chair, "No, I don't, mama."

"Alright then!" Sakura exclaimed cheerfully and also sat down while breaking her chopsticks apart, "Thanks for the food!"

The ravenette nodded in return while breaking her chopsticks apart as well and calmly started to dig in her food. As they ate, her mother asked her the usual question, "So, how was school today?"

"Fine," the preteen replied dully and continued to eat her food as if nothing happened. However, she couldn't help but notice how her mother had set her gaze on the girl and how she was no longer smiling – instead she was frowning at her.

"Did something happen today at school?" mama inquired suspiciously but her voice still held the serene and tender tone.

The girl cast her eyes downwards and stared at her hands. She desperately wanted to tell her what she endured today – how she felt when she saw other kids with their fathers, how it made her jealous because they had what she didn't have, how she felt like she was choking on air when she saw them interact...

 _How badly she wanted to meet her father._

But instead Sarada said none of that and faked confusion, although her voice came out hesitant and strained, "What do you mean? Why would something happen?"

"Because you are not acting like yourself today," her mother responded softly as she stared with a sad expression on her face. The ravenette flinched inwardly at the way mama was looking at her. She hated it when her mama was upset... she was usually very cheerful so it made Sarada sad when she was low-spirited.

"Please, Sarada," mama begged her and stared at her with those _sad, sad_ eyes, "Tell me."

Her facade had shattered – she just couldn't do it. She couldn't lie to her mother when she was desperate to help her daughter.

Her lower lip trembled as she bit out, "When is he going to come back?"

.

.

.

Sakura just blinked at her daughter in confusion and questioned her, "What... what do you mean?"

"Papa. When is he going to come back?"

That question caught her off guard. In all honesty, she hadn't expected it. Even though Sakura knew her daughter missed her father, Sarada hadn't brought that up in a long while. The pinkette just stared at her daughter who stared in an equal favour with a sour expression on her face.

She then sighed inwardly. Of course, her little girl was going to bring it up. She needed her father... and Sakura needed him too. Even though they somehow managed to live it through, she still needed him.

 _But he isn't here now,_ Sakura reminded herself. She had to be strong. Strong for herself and Sarada. And for him as well.

"Sarada..." she started sorrowfully, "Please don't worry about it. He will come back soon–"

"Soon!?" her daughter cut her off, "When is 'soon' going to be, mama!? How long do I have to wait for him!?" the ravenette screamed as tears had finally made their way down her face. The girl's emotions were finally pouring out because... she had locked them up inside of her for a very long times. "Do you know what it feels like to see other kids together with their dads when I don't even have one!? This isn't fair! What did I do to deserve this!? Why isn't he here!? Where _is_ he!?"

Her daughter half sobbed and half screamed loudly and hysterically while clenching her shirt. Sakura felt her heart shattering into many pieces as she saw her daughter breaking apart and reached out to her to comfort her in any way, "Sweetheart–"

But Sarada recoiled from her mother's touch and ran straight to her room, afterwards a loud bang echoing through their apartment.

.

.

.

She clenched the silky texture of a cushion in her arms as tears kept rolling down her cheeks. The girl attempted not to whimper as she choked on her tears and clutched the soft object closer to her chest. She tried to keep her emotions at bay but it was futile. Everything was shattering inside of her and she felt like she couldn't breathe anymore.

It was not fair. Where was her dad anyway? Why couldn't he live together with them? Why the _heck_ wasn't he there when she needed him the most!?

For years she had questioned mama about his existence and whereabouts. However, the ravenette didn't receive the answer she had anticipated – her mother never gave her direct responses and she never understand why.

She knew mama cared about her a lot... but she also needed her _papa_.

Suddenly, the girl heard her room's doors opening and glanced over shoulder to see her mother coming in. The woman said nothing as she settled down at the edge of her bed's mattress. She stayed quiet and said nothing to Sarada as silence had surrounded both of them.

But then mama opened her mouth and said, "I know you want to meet him, Sarada. I really understand that. And I promise – you will see him one day. I can't tell when – but I know you will."

Just then the girl noted that her mother had tangled her fingers in her raven hair and ruffled it in comfort. "I may... not know what it's like to live without a father... but I know you need him," the woman spoke softly but hesitantly to her... as if she was a frightened puppy.

"How can you be so sure about that...?" came the croaked reply from the heartbroken preteen.

"Because he is a great man," mama answered her with confidence and a gentle smile appeared on her face.

Sarada nodded slowly and then slowly sat on her bed, facing her mother. She took a deep breath to calm herself and said quietly, "I am sorry for yelling at you, mama..."

She stared at her lap as tears dripped from her face but at least she didn't feel hysterical anymore. She felt the bed shift and all of a sudden the girl was engulfed in a crushing hug by her mother.

None of them uttered a word as they both sat there silently. The girl slowly returned the hug by wrapping her arms around mama's waist. She could feel the older woman's comforting warmth envelop her and she received the needed comfort and love from her.

"Mama... you are crushing me..." the ravenette uttered eventually.

"Sorry," her mother released her, "Now, no more tears, alright? I can't help myself when I see you like this."

She shook her head in a positive manner, "Yes, mama."

Mama gave her one last glimpse and then stood up to leave her room. As the pinkette departed, Sarada gave a long sigh out. Even if her mother's words and actions were comforting and meaningful, it still couldn't erase the pain in her chest.

She needed her papa. She needed him very much.

.

.

.

He gazed at the fence in front of him while sitting on a large concrete block. He shut his eyes for a bit and sensed the evening's breeze pass by him. The man exhaled quietly, feeling truly relaxed... It had been a while since he enjoyed himself in silence. Usually, he had to stay inside behind the prison's bars or be around boisterous and raucous people.

The man opened his eyes and observed that the sun was setting. He felt peaceful at that moment and slowly forgot about his issues and problems.

"Yo, what are you doing here?"

He got snapped out of his stupor and turned to glare at the intruder. It was one of his prison inmates and he had to be absolutely one of the most irritating people he had ever known. Even more irritating than his ex–best friend.

"Is there a valid reason why you are bothering me?" he seethed out with deep anger lacing in his tone.

The brunette is front of him raised his hands, "Hey, I meant no harm. I only wanted to talk with ya."

He snorted at his wacky excuse, "Right."

His irritating inmate sat next to him and spoke, much to the man's dismay, "Anyway... I heard you are getting out next week. How do you feel about that?"

"Why do you need to know?" he answered back testy.

"Geez, stop with that attitude, will ya? I am just trying to make conversation here."

He sighed annoyed, "Do I look I am interested? If anything, you are being very bothersome."

But the brunette was right. He was getting out next week and honestly... he couldn't help but be thrilled inside. Because he would finally be reunited with his love of life...

And his child.

He would finally be together with his family.

 _tbc_


	2. ii

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto and its characters.

 **Title:** A Father's Love

 **Summary:** Even if her mother's words and actions were comforting and meaningful, it still couldn't erase the pain in her chest. She needed her papa. She needed him very much. AU. SasuSaku&SasuSara

 **Rating:** T

.

.

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 _~Going through life without a father is like sailing at night without a lighthouse~_

– _Denise J. Hughes_

 ** _._**

 ** _._**

 ** _._**

ii

"Is anyone waiting for you at home?"

His musings got interrupted and he glanced in slight irritation at the brunette because of his persistence and noisiness. Why was he still here? He wanted the idiot to leave but was too tired to argue with him. So he gave him a short and terse reply, "Yes."

His lover was waiting for him to come home. And he wanted to go home too. In all honesty, he couldn't stand this place anymore – he had been away from his precious people for _too_ long and he craved to be together with them. This place has done nothing but bring anguish and grief to him. He was feeling lonely here, even though there were many people around him. He always looked forward to those days when his lover would come and visit him... because then he wouldn't feel empty anymore. Otherwise, he was constantly either angry, exhausted or depressed.

"Do you miss them?" the brunette wondered out loud.

He did. He missed them very much. He missed his lover's bright and vibrant smiles and cheerful personality. He missed the bundle of joy his lover held in her arms all those years ago and her cooing and giggling. He sometimes wondered what it would be like to be a father to his child. He never got the chance to do it properly – he had only met her few times and she was just a baby back then. And he knew his little one needed him... just as much how he needed _her_.

Eventually he let out a tired sigh and said, "I do."

.

.

.

Giggling echoed in the apartment as a joyous and excited preteen smiled widely at the man in front of her and held a picture frame, "And these are my friends Boruto and his little sister Himawari! We have known each other since we were all little."

The man next to her nodded and lightly smiled at her, "Is that so?"

Sarada got suddenly flustered from her father's intense gaze and turned away to hide her blush. She wasn't really used to having her papa look at her so lovingly since he was never around before and she felt her shy all of a sudden. The girl then looked back at her father, though she didn't meet his gaze, and answered meekly, "Umm... I also have my best friend ChouChou. I met her in preschool and ever since then we have been friends."

The ravenette bashfully smiled and scratched her head as she met her father's gaze and continued, "I don't really have that many friends because I can be socially awkward and shy sometimes..."

Her father grimaced slightly and said, "You don't need many friends, Sarada. Trust me – it is better to have few trustworthy ones than having a lot of pretentious ones."

"That's... not exactly what I meant, papa." the girl explained as she shook her head, "My problem is that I sometimes can't communicate with other people properly. I want to learn to be more social and less awkward..."

The man frowned yet again and exhaled wistfully, "...I see. You definitely won't be able to do it in a short time, though. I will take a while."

Sarada just nodded solemnly and began to muse about her papa's statement. She heard her father stand up from the couch as he spoke, "Let's go talk outside. I believe you have many questions, don't you?"

The girl suddenly lightened up at his offer and jumped from the couch. She grinned at him and he just smirked back. Then her papa motioned to come with him and she happily skipped after him.

.

.

.

"Did you have many friends when you were younger, papa?" the girl asked the man next to her.

Her father had decided to take her to an alley way of cherry blossoms and explained to her that he would usually come here in his youth. The place itself was alluring and fascinating and Sarada just kept gawking in amazement at the stunning view which unfolded in front of her eyes. It was quite calm and peaceful here as well and the sunlight was beaming through the trees.

He shook his head in a negative manner and answered, "I didn't. Why are you asking?"

"Well..." she started quietly, "You mentioned before, it is better to not have many friends... did you have a friend that betrayed you or something?"

"No," her papa replied back, "The reason why I didn't hang out with many people is because I didn't trust them. I was quite wary when it came to meeting other people. In fact, I still don't trust others, considering how the society can be these days."

"Oh..." was the girl's response and afterwards added, "Thanks for the advice, papa."

He nodded and smiled slightly at the girl in return, "You're welcome."

A sudden happiness bubbled up in her heart at the sight of her father's smile and she felt the corners of her mouth turn upwards as well. Spending time with her father always brought joy to the ravenette. For years, she didn't have a father-figure in her life, only mama, but that all changed when he finally returned home. Papa was with her and she felt content.

"Hey, papa." Sarada suddenly spoke in a soft voice as she stopped walking. Her father halted his pace as well as he looked at her, "Can you please tell me the story about how you fell in love with mama?"

She noted that surprise had overtaken the man while he was staring back at her. He probably didn't expect that question, "...a story how I fell in love with your mother?"

The ravenette nodded quickly and suddenly became interested at her feet. She didn't receive an immediate response from him and just quietly waited for his answer as she kept staring down. From the corner of her eye she saw papa lift his hand and–

The girl felt her father's fingers on her forehead and she became astonished and just stared at her papa's smiling face. "How about I tell you next time," he said gently to her, "Alright?"

Sarada could sense blood rushing up to her cheeks and again glanced shyly at the concrete ground, getting flustered by the man's actions, "Okay."

"Now, let's go."

It didn't take too long for her catch up with her father.

.

.

.

Her eyes fluttered open and she slowly sat on her bed while yawning and stretching her arms. Then she took in her surroundings and noted that she was still in her bedroom. And there was no sign of the cherry blossom park or her father. She felt very confused because just a minute ago she was talking to him and now she was in her room.

But as reality started to set in deeper, she felt grief overcome her and glared at her clenched fists. It had all been a dream… a piece of her imagination. She didn't even know what was her father like in real life – she only created an image of him by listening to the stories about papa her mama had shared with her. She sighed in disappointment and got up from her bed.

The girl began her normal morning routine which involved showering, brushing her teeth and dressing up. As she finished doing so, she made her away out of her room to go grab and eat something for breakfast. As she went through her tiny living room, she glanced at the dresser with the picture frames on it she would check out now and then. She quietly walked over to the commode and stared at the one sole photograph of her father.

The ravenette scrutinized her father's appearance all over as she had done it many times before. The raven haired man had lengthy straight hair with little spikes at the end and onyx eyes which reminded her of bottomless pits. As her eyes shifted to the picture frame of her mother, she noticed papa's skin was slightly darker in contrast to her mama's skin tone. Sarada noted as well that he looked quite solemn and no other emotion was present on his face. Her mother had explained to her many times that she is a spitting image of her father and that she even has some personality traits and habits of his.

The picture of him Sarada stared at... was very old. Mama had also told her that this picture was taken when her father was only around his early twenties, just when she had met him. Unfortunately, she had no other pictures of her father… there weren't even pictures of him together with mama or her.

And that was weird. Yes, she understood that there were no pictures of papa and her but what about her mama? Obviously, she had known him before she was even born. This brought a frown on the girl's face as she kept staring at her beloved father's face in picture frame.

.

.

.

 _"What was he like when you first met him?"_

 _It was a Friday's evening and Sarada was sitting by the table and staring at mama as she washed the dishes after their dinner. Her mother had made gyoza with vegetables and the young girl had enjoyed it very much, probably because of mama's great cooking skills._

 _The older woman turned around and stared at her in confusion, "What do you mean?"_

 _"What was papa like when you first met him?" the ravenette repeated her question. Since she had never met her father, she always had a habit to ask her mother anything about her father. Mama didn't mind, of course, and was delighted to tell anything about him. The girl also enjoyed listening to her mama's stories about herself and papa._

 _"Oh!" the pinkette exclaimed in realisation and then asked curiously, "Why exactly do you want to know?"_

 _Sarada glanced downwards and spoke quietly, "I just want to know more about him… since, he is my dad." She met her mother's gaze and asked, "Can you tell me… please?"_

 _Her mother gave out a mirthful laugh and just smiled at her in return, "Sure I can! But first – let me place the plates in the cupboard."_

 _The young girl jumped from her chair and said, "Let me help you."_

 _After the both of them had placed the dishes in their respective places, she and her mother sat down by the table. The girl placed her hands on the table and stared at the older woman as she ran her fingers through her bubblegum pink hair and then turned to her, "Before I tell you anything… are there any questions you would like to ask?"_

 _The ravenette seemed thoughtful for a moment and after a while said, "Not really."_

 _Her expression was blank as she stared at her mother and waited for her response. Mama just smiled sincerely and spoke. "Alright. I will tell you then."_

 _She saw her mother run her hands through her hair again and take a deep breath as she started to speak while casting her eyes down, "As I have told you many times, your papa... is a good man. He may not seem the nicest person around but… he is very caring and treasures us a lot."_

 _A timid smile was visible on her face as she shyly glanced back at Sarada. The girl noticed that whenever mama was speaking of papa, she always got bashful. It was very sweet, to be honest because she did not know a lot grown ups were like her mama._

 _"But," the pinkette continued, "When I first met your papa… I was actually afraid of him."_

 _She just blinked a few times and afterwards became very confused. "Afraid?" she questioned, "How come you were afraid of papa?" That honestly made no sense. Why would mama be afraid of papa?_

 _Her mother exhaled quietly and said, "I was quite stupid and naive back then. My parents had always scared me into thinking that everyone around me was dangerous and I was very paranoid because of that."_

 _The raven haired girl nodded in understanding and then inquired, "What about papa?"_

 _"Well, your papa..." the pinkette started, "When I first saw him, I noticed he was covered all in black… and I also could barely see his face. I didn't know why but he seemed to be glaring at everyone as well. Honestly… back then, I thought he looked quite intimidating."_

 _The girl nodded at the older woman's explanation and asked, "What made you change your mind?"_

 _"Obviously, when I got to know him," a stunning smile appeared on her mother's face yet again as she gazed back at her, "I learned that despite his scary appearance, he was a good person and he cared for his loved ones very much. That way I also learned that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover."_

 _Mama then laid her hand on Sarada's hand and looked serenely at her, "You won't be disappointed when you will meet him, Sarada. You will like him a lot. Trust me."_

 _The girl nodded and smiled at her mother in response._

 _._

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The ravenette just sighed fondly at the memory as she took one last glance at the picture frame and continued her way towards the kitchen. On the kitchen's table she saw a huge plate of pancakes with caramel syrup and a beverage that seemed to be still warm. Next to the food the girl spotted a small note and picked it up to see her mother's handwriting. It said _'I had an extra shift in the cafe this morning. I will be back at five in the evening. I hope you have a great day!'_ She nodded to herself and then sat down to enjoy her lovely breakfast.

After Sarada had eaten the food, she contemplated going outside, considering she had nothing really to do. She could have read some books but decided against it since she didn't want to sit down all the time and wanted to take a long walk. ChouChou had also left this morning so why not spend some time by herself? She grabbed her phone and earphones while putting them in her pants' pockets and headed towards the exit.

As she was about to leave, the doors next to her apartment slammed open and there stood an old–aged man in the entryway. As the raven haired girl noted who he was, she felt disdain and dread wash over her as she stared at him. In front of her, there was her and mama's landlord by Danzo Shimura. He was a very rude and greedy man who hated them because her mother couldn't pay for the rent on time since she had a very little income and they were always short on money.

The old man kept coming to their apartment at least three times a week to demand money from them which later escalated to an argument between him and her mother. He had threatened them many times that he would either call the police or kick them out if they wouldn't pay on time. It sometimes led for them having less money and food but obviously he didn't care. He only cared about himself and money.

"The rent," spoke the old-man.

"H-huh?" she got out of her trance and looked at the old landlord who kept staring at her without an expression on his face. But she still noticed the clouded look in his eyes – hatred. The girl gulped at the sight of him. Usually, mama was the one who dealt with him, she just stood by and watched their quarrels. Now that she had to face him alone – it made her very uneasy. She didn't know what to do nor what to say to him.

"The rent. When are you going to pay for the rent?" he asked brusquely while glowering at her.

Nervousness washed over the girl and she felt her insides churn at the brisk tone of his voice and his hard expression. She swallowed her spit and said quietly, "I don't know… it's up to whether mama will get a paycheck or not this week. We are quite short on money right now…"

As she finished talking, the ravenette glanced at her feet and avoided the old man's burning gaze. She heard him scoff, "Tch, typical. Maybe that harlot needs to go join a brothel – to become a prostitute. Hopefully, then she will be able to earn the money she needs to pay for the rent."

The girl's eyes widened and she raised her head to gawk at him, "What?"

The way he looked at her afterwards made her want to shrink and disappear from his vision. It felt like his gaze was piercing through her, "You now what I mean. Obviously, your mother is a useless tramp so no one would offer her a job in their workplace. But with her good looks, she will be able to satisfy and pleasure any man that comes her way since that's what she is only useful – sex."

At first Sarada just blankly stared at the old man and listened to his remarks about her mother but after a while fury surged through her and her face twisted in a snarl. Her face scrunched up in anger and disgust and her eyes were glazed with malice. "Shut up!" she yelled, "You know nothing about my mother, you stupid, old vermin! Stop making lies about her!"

Now she understood why mama disliked their landlord. He was nothing but a greedy scum who would make others feel bad about themselves because of his selfishness. Her patience was just fascinating and she had to give her mother props for standing this man for so long.

A sinister chuckle filled the apartment's stairways and the girl was snapped out of her stupor and gazed at the old man. A malicious smirk had spread over his face and she no longer felt confident in the man's presence. "My dear child… you are so naive. Your mother isn't as perfect as you make her out to be."

Her eyes narrowed and pressed her lips in a tight line and glared at him in annoyance. What would he know about her anyway? That's right – he knew nothing!

"After all, if she is marvelous as you speak… why did your father abandon her?"

Once she heard his spoken words, the ravenette froze and almost stopped breathing. She didn't know how to respond to _that_. Abandon them? But mama always said that he loved them and were his most precious people! Besides, he is supposed to come home soon. Mama wouldn't lie about that… would she?

"See, my dear… she is not perfect. If she was, your father would be here, living with the both you. But I guess your mother and you weren't good enough for him. Good enough for him to love the both of you."

She felt angry tears pool in the corners of her eyes and she suddenly yelled at the older male, "You are lying! My papa didn't abandon us! He loves us! He loves us very much! You are a liar! Liar! Liar! LIAR!" she chanted furiously while clenching her fists. But honestly, she didn't know if she was trying to convince him or herself about her papa.

"How dare you talk way to me, brat? Haven't your precious mother taught you better?" hissed the old man angrily.

"Shut up!" Sarada yelled furiously, "You are a horrible and greedy person! You only care about yourself and spit on those who have struggles! I _hate_ you!"

Once she said those words, the preteen felt a stinging sensation on her left cheek as she fell on the ground. She placed her hand on her face and looked at the raging man in front of her. "You better shut your mouth, brat," he snarled, "The only reason why you and that whore of your mother still lives here is because I get money. Even if she is always late, I still get it. So be lucky I provide the both of you a place to stay or otherwise I wouldn't even bother with the likes of you."

With that he turned around and walked inside of his apartment while slamming the doors. The ravenette just sat quietly on the ground and tried to comprehend what just happened. She knew their landlord was a cruel man… but she never thought he would hit someone, yet alone slap her. She stood up shakily and with fast steps walked down the stairs, not wanting to encounter the man again.

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She was walking down the street as she blankly stared ahead and listened to one of her favourite rock bands. Rock was Sarada's favourite music style because she enjoyed listening to the loud guitar's strumming. Her mama had mentioned that her father enjoyed rock music too and listened to a lot of old school rock bands in his youth.

Trutfully, she didn't want to think about him. In fact, she didn't want to think about anything. She just wanted tune out everything and let music fill her ears and enjoy it. But unfortunately, the conversation between her and Mister Shimura kept crawling into the girl's head and she couldn't shake it off. She knew she shouldn't believe him… after all, he is just a stranger to her and she barely even knows him. Mama is the only person she can trust.

 _But… what if it not what it seems…_ she thought desperately, _what if mama is wrong?_

The ravenette trusted her mother… but these thoughts kept plaguing her mind and she was starting to get a headache from all this hard thinking. The thing was – all she wanted was for her father to come home to them but she wasn't absolutely confident he will. In fact, that is what horrified her the most. What if all the hope she had will be all for nothing in the end? The girl sighed. Nothing made sense to her anymore…

Sarada was now listening to _Dear Father_ by Sum 41 – her favourite track by them – and couldn't help but to relate to the song. It felt like the singer was speaking out to her and understood the pain she was feeling and going through every day. As far she knew by reading some articles about the band, just like her, the lead vocalist had never met his father, not even once which really sucked. She really hoped that wouldn't be the case for her.

As she kept musing about her relationship with her papa, she didn't notice someone appear in front of her. And once she did, she let out a brief but loud yell and fell on her bottom as her phone along with her earphones descended on the ground.

"B-Boruto!" she exclaimed in distress once she noticed who it was, "What the heck was that all about!? You scared me!"

The blond in front of her rolled his eyes and said, "Well, maybe if your ears weren't clogged by those earbuds of yours, you would have heard me and Hima calling you a million times!"

The girl looked to her left and saw Boruto's little sister running towards them. "Hey, Sarada-nee-chan!" she exclaimed while waving eagerly at her.

The ravenette gave a shy wave as well in greeting and then turned her attention back to the Uzumaki boy. "You still didn't have to scare me..." she said sourly, "Couldn't you just tap on my arm or something?"

The boy just shrugged in response, "Wouldn't you scream then as well?"

"It still would have been better than getting in my face all of the sudden."

The preteen then sighed quietly and stood up to dust her grey shorts off. Once she did so, she turned her attention to the Uzumaki siblings in front of her and asked, "So… what are you doing here anyway?"

"Boruto-nii-chan bought me ice-cream in the ice-cream shop!" Himawari said enthusiastically while smiling widely, "It was so good and tasty and I wish I hadn't eaten it already! Do you want to know what kind of ice-cream nii-chan bought me, Sarada-nee-chan?" before the raven haired girl could answer, Himawari chirped, "Strawberry ice-cream with colourful sprinkles! Yay!"

Sarada would have smiled if she wasn't in such sour mood as she watched the younger girl talk animatedly. If there was one thing Himawari was definitely known for, it was for her cheerful and optimistic personality. She could bring a smile even on the most gloomiest person in the whole world.

"Okay, Himawari, that's enough," the blond reprimanded his younger sister, "I swear, you are never putting seven spoons of sprinkles on your ice-cream again. It's making you too hyperactive."

She just stared at them as the blond scolded the younger girl. It was amusing but she didn't feel like laughing. Once her friend calmed his sister down, he turned his attention to her, "Sorry about that. Anyway, we are heading home now. What about you?"

She glanced downwards at the concrete ground and said quietly, "I don't really know… all I am doing right now is taking a stroll and listening to music but that's about it."

He knew his sister didn't notice it since she was still sugar high but the blond immediately noted that his friend seemed rather lonely and would probably appreciate some company around her. So he grinned at her slightly and inquired, "How about you come over to our house? I am sure you have nothing else to do, right?"

Sarada stared at Boruto and considered his offer. She kind of wanted to take her mind of her father and not think about him for a while. Not to mention the fact, she hadn't really hung out with Boruto much this week and wanted to spend more time with him.

A smile then made its way on the girl's lips and she said, "Sure, why not?"

The boy nodded, still grinning, "Alright, then let's go."

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The pinkette sighed as she stared at the huge building. She had a task fulfill in front of her and honestly she didn't know exactly how she would accomplish it. She was also a bit anxious of how he – the person she needed to talk to – would react. She just hoped it wouldn't end badly.

Sakura exhaled yet again and walked towards the entrance. As she was near the entryway, the doors automatically slid open and she went inside. The woman admired the view that was in front of her – the place looked stunning. It wasn't surprising though, after all this was one of the most famous skyscrapers in whole Japan in which ran one of the largest law firms in the whole world.

She was about to go over to the receptionist and request the person's presence until she saw a familiar face. There she saw her friend Hinata walking over to the elevator. Sakura called out the blunette, "Hinata!"

The said woman turned around and Sakura noted that she had widened her eyes at the sight of her. She walked swiftly over to her friend who seemed to be in surprise and hugged her.

"Sakura-chan," she called quietly and hugged her back. After a while, both of the women let go of each other and began to talk. Hinata was the first one to start, "What are you doing here?"

The pinkette smiled at her, "I having a lunch break right now so I took a chance to come here. I presume you are here to bring Naruto his lunch?"

Her friend blushed slightly and nodded while showing the pink haired woman the lunch boy. However the blunette became confused once she realised that Sakura was working today as well and then asked quietly, "You have got to work today? But I thought Saturdays and Sundays were your days off."

"Not today. One of my co-workers called in sick so I had to cover for her," she clarified as both women stepped into the elevator, "I am not going to lie, I didn't really want to work today since this week kind of took a huge toll on me. But hey, on the bright side I am getting a bigger payment so I guess it's not so bad."

The other woman smiled lightly at her enthusiasm and she grinned back. But then Sakura reminded herself why she was here in first place and suddenly became serious, "Anyhow, this is not why I am here. Actually, I have come to see Naruto. He is not having a meeting or something now, right?"

The women in front of her became puzzled yet again, "Why do you need to see Naruto-kun?"

"There is something important I need to talk to him about. In fact, Hinata, I want you to come as well. I think I will need your support."

The blunette was now completely perplexed. She rarely saw her friend this serious because she was usually very cheerful and smiled most of the time. Something urgent must have happened or at least will be happening for Sakura to be this somber.

Hinata gave a curt nod and said, "Of course."

"Thanks, Hinata-chan," Sakura responded with a smile.

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"So what would you like to do?" questioned Boruto while making himself comfortable on his bed. They had just come to the Uzumaki's house and both of the preteens decided to laze around in Boruto's room while Himawari was playing outside in the backyard.

Even though she had been there many times, Sarada couldn't help but adore their house. The house was big and spacious and obviously the blond's parents had chosen the best constructors and designers to construct and design their house. Even though the girl would love to live in such a house since their apartment was very old and was in need for immediate reconstruction, it wasn't her number one priority.

The ravenette sat down on his bean bag and answered, "I am not sure… do you have any ideas yourself?"

The blond laughed quietly to himself, "I kind of wanted to know if you had any suggestions. But anyway, would you like to watch some videos on YouTube?"

She nodded at him half interested, "I guess..."

The boy frowned to himself at the girl's lack of interest but shook it off. "Be right back," he said and left his room.

Once he was gone, Sarada exhaled quietly in dejection and stared at the floor. As much as she didn't want to think about him, her father was constantly on her mind and it brought her pain, sadness and hurt. There was always this hollow feeling in her chest whenever she thought of him. Even though she had never met him or didn't know him, she still loved him. And it scared her because sometimes she felt she loved him too much which would cause her heartache.

She thought that if she spent more time with Boruto, it would help her clear mind of her problems and issues but that wasn't case, obviously.

 _"But I guess your mother and you weren't good enough for him. Good enough for him to love the both of you."_

The girl's eyes widened as she remembered what her landlord said. Even though she tried to tell herself that everything he said was a lie, somehow she was starting to believe him… She really wanted to trust her mother, she really did. But, for a while, she has said papa will be home soon and he never did come home. What if mama was the one actually lying? Or even worse – what if she was under the delusion papa would come home and later be heartbroken because he never did? She didn't know which option was worse.

Suddenly, she realised tears were streaming down her face, she hadn't even noticed. All she noticed that pain had appeared in her chest and at that moment she felt like she couldn't breathe. Did her father even love them? Did he? Mr. Shimura was probably right – mama and her weren't probably good enough for him to love them.

She wouldn't be surprised if her papa had found a new family who was good enough for him to love them and that thought _hurt_ so much. She wrapped her arms around her knees and hung her head as she sobbed quietly. She wanted her father so badly, so badly she would even die for him to be there. Did papa not realise how much she loved him? She might not be good enough for him but could he at least appreciate her love for him?

The ravenette started to tremble and sob even harder than before. Why? Why did it hurt so much? She wanted this pain to stop so badly! But why couldn't it stop? She had never felt so rejected and unwanted in her life before.

All she wanted was her father's love. But she would probably never receive it.

 _Tbc_

* * *

 _Wow. After million years – *cough*almost two months*cough* I finally wrote the second chapter. I am really sorry for not uploading faster but I had school, exams, tests, real life problems and I was also lazy lol_

 _Is it just me or this chapter a bit too dramatic? Idk, I just wanted to make it emotional. I also hope the characterization is alright and the story's progress is also okay. If you notice something, please tell me okay? It's really important to me because I want this fic to be... successful. Lol Also, I hope this wasn't too rushed. If it was, then tell me about that as well._

 _Anyway, I don't know when will I upload the next chapter – hopefully this week or at least this summer – because next week I am going to Montenegro. I might be able to write something but I am not entirely sure._

 _Anyway – I would be very happy if you reviewed or followed my story if you are new a reader. You don't have to do it but I would be very happy because other people's opinions matter to me._

 _Anyway, thanks for reading! Til' next time! :)_


	3. iii

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto and its characters.

 **Title:** A Father's Love

 **Summary:** Even if her mother's words and actions were comforting and meaningful, it still couldn't erase the pain in her chest. She needed her papa. She needed him very much. AU. SasuSaku&SasuSara

 **Rating:** T

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 _~It's been a long hard road without you by my side...~_

 _~Why weren't you there the nights that we cried?~_

 _-Good Charlotte_

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iii

"So, how are you doing?" Sakura inquired as she stepped out of the elevator.

Hinata followed suit and smiled softly at the pinkette, "Thanks, I am fine. I enrolled Himawari-chan into an art class and so far she is content with it. What about you?"

"I am doing fine as well," she also responded with a sincere smile but after a moment grimaced, "I still haven't paid for the rent though. I hope I will be able to pay for it, once I receive the paycheck from my manager or our landlord will have a fit."

The blunette slightly frowned at her friend, "Your landlord doesn't seem like a very nice person…"

"He really isn't." Sakura shrugged at the other woman and both of them continued their way down the hall towards Naruto's office. As the both of them reached the blond's office, they saw the oak doors on which had engraved inscription _'Naruto Uzumaki'_. Hinata knocked softly on the doors and waited for a while.

"Just a minute!" an irritated shout came from the other side and the blunette giggled quietly. She turned to the pinkette and whispered, "Before you come in, I would like to talk Naruto-kun myself first. I hope you don't mind."

She just beamed at her friend and winked, "Go ahead."

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As Hinata opened the doors slightly, she noticed that her husband was checking something over with a hard expression and he seemed to be glaring at the computer screen. Then she opened the doors completely wide which make a loud creaking noise, snapping the blonde man out of his stupor, "I said, just a minu– Hinata!?"

The blunette closed the entrance, once she stepped inside, and turned to her spouse. She felt herself smile at the bewildered expression on her husband. Then he got out of his confusion and stood up to walk over to her. "Hinata. What are you doing here?" he asked her gently as he made his way towards her.

She continued smiling widely while closing her eyes and raised the lunchbox in front of his face, "It's time for your lunch."

"But it's not even–" he started but then his eyes shifted towards the clock near the entrance's doors and he placed his hand on his forehead and sighed, as he realised what time it was, "Sorry, I have been so busy this morning that I didn't even notice the time."

His wife giggled quietly and said, "It's alright, Naruto-kun. For being so hard-working, you deserve a reward."

Naruto smiled at her half–attempt at making a joke and laid the back of his palm on her cheek, "Thanks, Hinata." He leaned in towards her face and gave a peck on her lips. The blunette blushed at his affections and lowered her eyes towards the ground. The blond was about lean in for another kiss when a knock and a voice from the other side interrupted them, "Hey! Can I come in now?"

A soft gasp came from the woman in front of him, "Sakura-chan!" and she ran towards his office doors. He furrowed his eye-brows. Sakura was here? What was she doing here? It was not like he minded her coming here, it's just – she usually called him on his phone or came to visit them when he was home. He saw the pink haired woman come inside with his wife and she greeted him enthusiastically, as she usually did.

"Hey, Naruto! Sorry for not calling you earlier. Unfortunately, my phone was out of battery because I forgot to charge it. Silly me!" she laughed quietly at herself and Naruto felt the corners of his mouth turn upwards.

"It's okay, Sakura. Things like that happen." he said to lighten up the mood.

She chuckled whole heartedly, "Yeah." But then the smile on the pinkette's face disappeared and it was replaced by a somber expression, "Anyway. There is something I need talk with you about, Naruto. It's very important."

The blonde became puzzled once again and turned to his wife with a raised eyebrow, as if asking, "Do you know anything about this?" Hinata just shrugged her shoulders in response and he turned his attention back to the pinkette, puzzlement present on his face.

"Well, what is it?"

Sakura took took a deep breath and said, "I need to talk to you about Sasuke-kun."

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As she kept sobbing in her hands, she heard a loud voice from downstairs. The ravenette became quiet and listened to the blond who was yelling, "Himawari! Have you seen dad's laptop!?"

"I don't know!" That was Himawari, "I think daddy hid it from you since he still upset at you about that incident with Inojin!"

"What!? Ugggghhhhh…" the blond boy groaned loudly, "You have got to be kidding me!"

As she became more aware at what she was doing, she mentally slapped herself. She couldn't believe she started to cry at Boruto's house! Was she seriously such a crybaby? She immediately ran to the bathroom which was connected to Boruto's room and locked the doors. She turned on the faucet and washed her face from any sign of tears. When she was done, she turned off the faucet and leaned against the bathroom's wall.

Honestly, she didn't want anyone to know her problems at home. Heck, she even didn't even want her friends to know. Even though she trusted them – ChouChou and Boruto – and they were the shoulders Sarada could sometimes cry on… she didn't want to burden them with her own problems.

But sometimes… she wanted to talk about her problems. She didn't want to keep them locked up in her heart because at times it hurt too much. As mama had told her many times, it was not right to keep things bottled up in her heart. If she felt the need to do it, she needed to talk to someone. Whether it was mama or her friends, it didn't matter.

But at the same time, she didn't want to talk about this type issue with Boruto or ChouChou. Even if they would always listen to her, they _wouldn't_ just simply understand her. Boruto has complained at times that his father was always busy and wouldn't have time for them but at least he had a father. She had nothing.

"Sarada?" a voice snapped her out of her musings. It was Boruto. The girl sighed quietly and got up from her position to unlock the bathroom's doors. She saw the blond standing with a tablet and he looked more annoyed than ever, "Sorry, unfortunately I don't have a laptop so our only option is this. I hope you don't mind."

Sarada kept staring at the boy and inwardly sighed. To be honest, she didn't want to stay there anymore and wanted to leave because she felt physically and emotionally drained. She pressed her lips in a tight line and said, "Sorry, Boruto, but I have to go."

"Wait, what?" confusion was written on the boy's face, "But you just came here!"

The girl shook her head, "I really have to go." With that she walked around her friend who stood frozen and left his room.

Once she was gone, the boy turned his slightly towards the doors and stared for a second or two. Then he sighed heavily and plopped on the bean bag Sarada was sitting on earlier. Could things get any messier today?

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As soon as Sakura exited Naruto's office, there was only one emotion present on fer – disappointment. She knew it was fruitless to talk to the blond about it since he would be in denial about the whole situation. As much as she tried to talk him into doing it, he would rebut her request which led her to giving up. She sighed one more time and started to make her way towards the elevator. Just as she was about to push the button to open it, she heard a feminine voice call her name, "Sakura-chan!"

The said woman turned to see her friend running up to her and tried to sound as cheerful as possible, though her voice was tinged with sadness, "Yeah?"

"Sakura-chan, I am really sorry about Naruto-kun," Hinata apologised with sincerity and the pinkette could tell that she didn't seem too happy with the outcome of the situation either, "I will talk to him about it. We both know he deep inside feels the same way about Sasuke-san."

The pink haired sighed for the umpteenth time that day and gave a little smile. She didn't count on it much but she would hope for the blunette to handle everything by herself. After all, she is Naruto's wife and she might be able to convince him… but then she frowned inwardly to herself. She didn't want to force the blond either. The only reason why she even tried to compromise with him in first place was because of her lover.

"I hope you are right," she answered to the other woman and then checked the time on the digital clock that was built in a wall, "Anyway, I gotta go. My break will be over soon and I need to be back on time. See you another time!" Sakura then pressed the button and the elevator opened. As soon as she stepped in, it started to close, and the pink haired woman gave a half wave to Hinata.

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She walked back home while staring at her feet. She still couldn't believe it that she broke down like a big mess in her friend's house, and truth to be told… she would have been very embarrassed if he had seen her crying.

But at that moment, she couldn't really control her tears. The fact that her father might not even care about her could be possible and that would explain his very long absence away from their home. After all, mama never explained to her where was her papa and what was he doing. If she had done so, she wouldn't even have such questions and thoughts about her father.

The girl knew her mother only wanted the best for her and protect her from the harsh truths and horrors. Maybe that would explain it why she wasn't honest with her. The woman herself probably knew that papa would never return home and, not wanting to upset her daughter, she lied to her just to make her happy.

Honestly, she didn't know how to feel about that. Heck, she didn't know if she wanted to confront her mother about this whole mess or just continue living her life as if nothing was wrong and pretend that she was okay with her father not being there. The first option seemed more plausible since it was just not possible for her to enjoy her life without papa. If anything, she will feel more unwanted and rejected. Maybe even unloved.

She looked up ahead and saw her apartment a few houses away and she felt relief come over her. The girl started to fasten her pace, wanting to get home faster. When the big apartment was just few metres away from her, she almost cried out in happiness and started to run towards the building. She ran around it to get to entrance, only to be stopped by the scene in front of her. She hid behind the corner so she wouldn't get noticed by the people in front of her and stared at them.

There stood Mister Shimura and next to him were two people – one she could decipher as a policeman since he wore a policeman's uniform but she couldn't tell who the lady was. Then her eyes shifted to their faces and the ravenette saw how serious and solemn they were. After that she glanced at her landlord's face and noted that he was angry and was close to seething. He even seemed close to being livid. The girl grimaced. She had never seen him this angry – he was now angrier than he was at the morning. Whatever the heck had happened, it had seriously enraged him which didn't mean good news…

"What do you mean my apartment will soon become the state's property!?" the old man suddenly hissed in a brisk tone.

"Well, Mister Shimura," the young woman started, "You are always late with the taxes and most of the time you don't even pay the full money. And, as far I am concerned, you are in a big debt which means you are unable to deal with the payment."

"How much am I in debt? Show me the charge!" he snapped at the lady. The girl watched as the unknown woman handed him a piece of paper and her landlord scanned his eyes over the document. After a while, he widened his eyes and opened his mouth slightly, "What… 23958 yen!?"

The woman nodded curtly, "I am afraid so, sir."

The old man glared one more time at the document and then pushed it in the woman's chest, "It's not my fault though. I have this slut–!" he paused and then coughed uncomfortably, "I mean… this woman staying here with her child and she never pays her rent on time! What am I supposed to do about it!?"

Sarada widened her eyes and gasped quietly – this woman, she was that debt collector who would come to their house from time to time if there was a problem with the taxes! No wonder why her landlord seemed so furious! Not wanting to get noticed, she turned away from them and pressed herself against the building's brick wall. She heard the lady speak, "Well, this is the problem you have to deal with yourself, sir. I can't help you with that."

Silence settled between them and the ravenette turned her head to glance behind the corner. She saw the old man grumble and then said, "I will see what I can do about it." Then he took out his wallet from his pants' pocket, "Should I pay the debt now?"

"The sooner, the better," came the crisp answer from the debt lady.

She watched as the landlord took some paper bills out from his wallet and gave it to the woman. The girl gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. She couldn't help but feel slightly angry at the scene in front of her. Mister Shimura had a lot of money and was quite wealthy, despite owning a run down apartment… so why couldn't help them out with their problems!? He was so selfish! Not that she was surprised.

It's just… she knew what would come afterwards. The girl knew that the debt mostly came from their part and their landlord would most likely blame her mother. At that thought, she furrowed her eyebrows and the corners of her mouth turned downwards. It broke her heart that her mother had another issue added to her problem list.

 _How is mama going to pay_ _that much money_ _?_ She thought in a questioning manner as her eyes watered, _There is no way we are going to stay here if we don't pay soon…_

Then she glanced at her landlord and the woman one more time and she spoke, "This better not happen again." And with that she turned around and left in a brisk step the old man alone with the policeman following her behind. He stood there for a while and after that he turned to walk inside the building.

Sarada waited until he went inside and heard him close the doors to his apartment. Then she slowly moved from her spot and in a slow manner walked up to the entrance of the flat and went inside, trying not to make any sound. As she did so, she quietly but swiftly ran to her apartment's doors and unlocked them to get inside. Once she was in her apartment, she pressed her back against the doors and sighed in relief.

There is no way, she would face Mister Shimura now. She was already scared of him, but her fear doubled at the sight of him being angry. She didn't know what was he like when he was enraged and didn't want to find out either.

She exhaled quietly once again and slowly walked to her room. Once she was there, she plopped on her bed and became relaxed at the softness of it. She closed her eyes for a bit and felt peace surround her whole being for a bit. This is what she needed – silence and peace. She then glanced at the small table next to her and saw a white piece of paper sticking out. Curiously she stuck her hand out and took the paper to glance at it so she could see what it was about. But once she saw the content, the girl groaned loudly and threw it away. Now her peace and silence was ruined.

On Monday their skills in soccer were going to be tested and she knew she was already a failure. As if she already wasn't failing Gym, she was definitely going to fail it now. Could her life get any worse?

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He had his hands placed on his face and sighed heavily to himself – he didn't understand. Why was Sarada avoiding him? Did he say something that offended her? Or maybe she just didn't want to hang out with him anymore? Then he shook his head at that thought. No, Sarada wasn't picky when it came to other people and usually accepted everyone. But then why?

When he tried to hang out with her, she always had an excuse or at least came up with one to blow him off. And that had been happening a lot lately because the girl didn't used to act like that. He wondered if he had done anything wrong…

He was snapped out of his musing from hearing the sound of doors closing downstairs and gentle voice calling, "I'm home!" It was his mom. He knew she had just visited dad at his work to bring him lunch since he was usually busy with his work and that annoyed the boy to no end. But he had learned to live with it, knowing there was nothing he could do about it.

Boruto got up from the bag and ran out of his room and down the stairs to greet his mother, "Hey, mom!"

He saw his mom smile at him kindly and she greeted him sweetly, "Hello, Boruto-kun." The blond grinned at her slightly and went to hug the older woman who hugged him back.

Then the blunette let him go and asked quietly, "What did you and Himawari-chan do today?"

The boy shrugged and replied, "Nothing really. Me and Hima went to an ice-cream shop and I got her one. If there is one thing I have learned today is that you must control how much sprinkles Himawari puts on her ice-cream or else she will go berserk because of sugar rush." He added in an annoyed grumble and his mother giggled slightly.

"I can tell you both enjoyed yourself very much," Hinata smiled slightly, "Where is Himawari-chan, anyway?"

"Probably outside," he answered gruffly, "Anyway, once we went home, we met Sarada and she came over."

"Sarada-chan?" his mother wondered out loudly, "Is she still here?"

Boruto shook his head and sighed lightly, "Nope. She left a while ago."

Hinata the noticed the sour mood the boy had and she could see he was slightly upset. _Did Boruto-kun and Sarada-chan get in a fight?_ She questioned herself in her mind. As long as she had known, the both children were always friendly and rarely got into any type of arguments so something serious must have happened. But before she could question her son, a cheerful and high voice interrupted her, "Mommy!"

She and Boruto turned to see Himawari skipping towards them and the little girl wrapped her arms around Hinata's waist and chirped excitedly with a huge smile, "Hey, mommy!"

The blond rolled his eyes at the younger girl and grumbled loudly, "I was talking to mom, Himawari."

"Sorry!" she apologised but didn't seem like she mean it.

He rolled his eyes once gain and then gazed at his mother who stared at him with her pearl lilac eyes and had concern written all over her face, "Is everything alright?"

The blond avoided her gaze and replied gruffly, "I am fine."

"Are you sure?" his mother questioned softly but the boy just nodded his head in return, still not looking at her. The blunette frowned slightly and then walked towards the direction of their direction, "Anyway, I went to the grocery store to buy some food for lunch. Would any of you like to eat?"

"Yeah!" answered the little girl amiably and then skipped away while the boy just nodded absent-mindedly and stared blankly at particularly nothing. Hinata nodded to herself and took out some groceries as Boruto walked up to her and asked, "Do you need any help?"

"I will be fine," the woman answered gently and unpacked a box of spaghetti. Her son just shrugged and stood there quietly. She glanced at him and sighed quietly, "Are you sure everything is alright?"

Silence settled upon them but she just waited patiently for him to speak. She was about to open her mouth to pry more about the matter when he spoke, "Actually… no."

"What happened?" she inquired, wanting to know more about the boy's moodiness, "Is it about Sarada?"

"Yeah," he answered quietly, "I don't feel like we are friends anymore…"

She watched as the boy in front of her sulked and then put her hand on his shoulder in comforting manner as he glanced at her. She knew that Boruto and Sarada had been friends for a long time and they were pretty much inseparable. She also knew how much Boruto treasured their friendship so it would make sense for him to be upset about that. The blunette said, "I am pretty sure that's not her intentions, Boruto-kun. She is probably busy with other things."

"How are you so sure about that, mom?" the blond questioned sourly, "What if she is avoiding me and doesn't want to be friends with me anymore?" then he glanced downwards and sighed to himself, "It just seems so weird…"

She just shook her head, "I doubt Sarada-chan would avoid you, sweety. It's just… Sarada-chan and her mother are not having it easy right now and they are having few problems. Once they will be solved, you can both hang out again. Okay?"

Boruto didn't seem convinced with her answer but nodded anyway, "Okay..."

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Music blasted through her earphones as she watched the rain pelt down on the ground through her tiny window. She knew a lot of people hated the rain and always complained about it being to depressing… but the ravenette actually enjoyed watching it. It usually made her feel peaceful and take her mind of her troubles and problems.

"And the shadow of the day…" she sang quietly, "will embrace the world in grey."

 _And the sun will set for you…_

Suddenly, Sarada felt like she heard something and pulled out her earphones. For a moment she didn't hear anything and, just as she was about to put her earphones back, a tingling voice echoed through the apartment, "I am home!"

 _Mama,_ the preteen thought to herself. She got off of her bed and walked out of her room. As she went inside the living room, the girl saw the older woman who smiled slightly at her and greeted cheerfully, "Hello, Sarada!"

The said girl just kept staring at her mother blankly and answered without any emotion, "Hey, mama..."

"How were you today?"

"Fine," was all she said.

The pinkette nodded, "I see." It was silent between the two of them and the ravenette felt awkward just standing there and playing with her jumper's sleeves. She really didn't know what to say with all the thoughts plaguing her mind.

"Is everything alright?" mama's sweet voice filled her ears. She peeked at her mother and noticed concern written all over her face. But she decided not to say anything. At least for now. Only when the time is right. "Yeah, I am fine."

"Are you sure?" the older woman kept prying.

She nodded, "Yeah. I am just tired, that's all."

"Well okay then. I am going to go and start making dinner now! I will call you when it's ready!" With that she left and went into the kitchen.

She watched as she left the room and then started contemplating. Should she ask about papa to mama tonight? She really couldn't decide. But she _did_ need to talk to her about him and finally find out truth. Even though she was prepared for the worst, she still needed to know. She couldn't bear not knowing anything about her father…

A sudden knock on the doors interrupted her thoughts.

"Can you please go get the doors, sweetie!?" mama called from the kitchen.

"Yeah!" she exclaimed as she was about to do it anyway. She ran to the entrance and hastily opened the doors, "Hello, how may I–"

Once she saw the visitor, Sarada immediately clamped her mouth shut and stared in horror at the said person. There, in front of her, stood Mister Shimura. _Just what the heck is he doing here!?_ She screamed in her mind. Her landlord was absolutely the last person she wanted to see, especially after the dispute both of them had this morning.

The ravenette gulped to herself. Was he going snitch on her to her mother? She didn't want her to get upset… and more reasons for their landlord to hate them.

"Who is it!?" she heard the older woman call and she felt the fear inside of her intensify. This was _bad_. _Very bad. Very, very bad._ She glanced at the old man and became frozen at his expression. He was glaring at her harshly and a snarl was present on his face. She felt her insides churn and she trembled slightly. _If looks could only_ _kill_ _…_

Suddenly, she heard her mother step out of the kitchen and coming towards them. "Sarada, what's–" she started to speak but then cut herself off abruptly, once she saw the face of the intruder. The preteen glanced at the pinkette and saw how rigid she had become, "Oh… Mister Shimura."

 _And this is how I die,_ the girl thought to herself sadly, _I am very sorry, mama. If it weren't for my stupid temper, none of this would have happened! Ugh, why do I always ruin everything…_

"Hello, miss Haruno… or should I say, _Misis Uchiha,_ " he sneered, "Anyway. I hope you are ready to pay the rent."

 _Here it goes, he is totally–, wait, what?_

The ravenette glanced at the older man startled and became quite confused. He was not going to snitch on her? But why? And then it hit her – he came here to talk about the debt as she had previously heard him argue over it with the debt lady.

 _This is even worse than I thought…_ Sarada decided it would be best to not intervene between the two adults. As she stepped away from them, she decided to hide behind the closet, just in case to keep an eye on her mama.

She glanced at mama and watched her take a deep breath, before speaking, "The rent, huh? I guess I might as well pay you today since I got the paycheck…" With that she turned around and disappeared into kitchen. After a while, she returned from the kitchen with a couple of bills and was about to hand it to him, "Here–"

She didn't even get to finish her sentence as mister Shimura snatched the money out of her hands and started counting the amount. The preteen who was still hiding behind the closet seethed at the sight of her. How dare he treat her mother that way! Screw the fact he was their landlord, she would feel a lot better if mama slapped him or even kicked him out of their apartment because of his attitude.

Once he was done counting the money, he glanced at her, "It's still not enough."

The older woman furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "What do you mean? I paid the right amount for the rent this time."

Knowing what was coming next, the girl felt anger disappear inside of her and instead she felt sadness come over her. She knew what was coming next… it was about the debt, wasn't it? Over the years, mama rarely paid the full rent and the amount she didn't pay kept growing bigger…

"You may have paid the right amount this time," he said sternly, "But you didn't other times. So now you are in a debt."

Her mother started becoming pale at the mention of the debt and stammered, "How much do I have to pay?"

"27467 yen." the older woman's eyes widened in terror as he took a piece of paper out of his pocket and gave it to her, "And you better pay me in a week's time or the government will deal with you instead."

Wait a minute. That was not the amount! Not only was their landlord a greedy old vermin but he was also a liar! She definitely needed to tell her mama about this!

The pinkette glanced at the paper for a while and then apologetically looked at the older man, "I am very sorry, Mister Shimura… but I am afraid I won't be able to pay this in a week. I will only receive the payment check from my job next month and–"

"I don't care," he snapped, "I _need_ the money by the next week and you better have it." And with that he turned around and walked away with heavy and intimidating steps. But then he paused for a while and then turned to her mama once again, "Also, keep that brat of yours on leash, will you? She is turning out to be just like her father and I _don't_ like it."

Sarada gasped quietly at the mention of her father. Just why did he have bring him up now? Hadn't he done enough damage with his words before? Did he want her to feel this bad about her broken relationship with her father? Just how cruel was this man?

The girl walked out of her hiding place and padded over to the older woman who didn't seem very ecstatic at the moment. How could she be anyway? She quietly spoke, "Mama?"

She was snapped out of her stupor and glanced at her, "You saw the whole thing… didn't you?"

Sarada just nodded and then glanced at her feet, "You know… mister Shimura was lying when he mentioned the amount you had to pay. Earlier today the debt lady came and said we were only in debt around 23000 yen."

"I know." her mother responded without any emotion and walked towards the kitchen.

The preteen widened her eyes and became perplexed. Mama knew about it? "But if you knew about it… why didn't oppose to him?" she questioned quietly, "I mean… we are just giving him money for nothing!"

She watched as the older woman stopped and sighed to herself, "I don't have a choice. If I don't pay the amount he requests, we most certainly will end up living on the streets. And I can't let that happen. Especially, not to you."

"But… why does he do that!" she exclaimed, not alright with the fact that they had to pay extra money, "He already knows how much we are struggling with the money, yet he still needs it from us!"

The pinkette didn't respond as she entered the kitchen and the girl followed her suit. Mama took the bill out of her pocket and glanced at it. "Oh my… I don't know how I will be able to repay that _much_." she said dejectedly and turned to the stove to continue making food.

The ravenette set her lips in a straight and glared at her feet, "Maybe, if _he_ was here, we wouldn't have all these problems."

She noticed how the older woman froze for a brief moment and then whipped her head to stare at her in and a flash of distress went across her face, "What? Sarada, you shouldn't blame–"

"No, mama!" she cried back, "Because of him, we have to live in this type of poverty and get terrorised by our landlord! We wouldn't have these problems if he wasn't so selfish! And now thanks to him, we might lose our home one home one day since he will never come back!"

"What are you talking about?" mama asked in complete confusion, "You know papa will be home–"

"Stop!" the ravenette screamed finally. Complete silence had settled upon the both of them and the only sound were her harsh pants. Tears had formed in her eyes and she didn't bother to wipe them away. "Just stop… please… _stop_."

Her breathing had become unstable at this point and she couldn't calm down. "Why do you keep saying he will be home soon?" the girl choked out, "Why? Mama, I don't understand… why do you keep saying he loves us? Obviously, he doesn't! I mean, if he really loved us… he would have been home by now together with us."

Sarada sobbed to herself as tears streamed down her face and she reached up to wipe them away. She felt another hand touch her face and she looked up to see her mother reaching out to her. She watched her mother inhale deeply and then speak, "Sarada… I promise. Everything will get better. I know things at the moment doesn't seem very good but they will eventually. As for your papa… I thought we talked over this, sweety. You know papa loves us very much. He really does."

Mama used her thumb to wipe her tears away and she just sniffled in return. "Please, don't cry, Sarada. Your tears are breaking my heart..." she whispered, "I promise you – papa will come home because he misses you, just as much as you miss him."

The ravenette just nodded and stared off somewhere in the distance. The pinkette gave her a sad smile and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and eventually walked outside the kitchen.

"But you are wrong, mama." the girl whispered to herself, "Things won't get better."

Mama words about papa didn't assure at all… in fact, she felt her heart break into more tiny pieces.

 _Tbc_

Sorry for posting this late once again. I think I had a writer's block for a while and I just couldn't bring myself to write anything, tbh.

I feel like this chapter isn't that really great. Idk. I really liked writing the scenes between Naruto and Hinata and Boruto and his mom though.

So I am sorry if this came out crappy. I will try to better next time.

Also, thanks for your nice reviews. :) I really feel happy reading them. And thanks for the criticising as well. :D

And before I say goodbye, would any of you be interested reading other fics in future? I have some plans for one-shots and I also really want to write a Naruto x Star Wars crossover story. In fact, I have started typing the first chapter but I figured that I need to finish this fanfic :D

Let me know what you think. ;)

Anyway, please review (I really like reading your thoughts) and till next time!

~sasuke-n-tomatoes


	4. iv

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto and its characters.

 **Title:** A Father's Love

 **Summary:** Even if her mother's words and actions were comforting and meaningful, it still couldn't erase the pain in her chest. She needed her papa. She needed him very much. AU. SasuSaku&SasuSara

 **Rating:** T

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 _~I'm just a kid and life is a nightmare…~_

 _~I'm just a kid, I know that it's not fair!~_

 _~Nobody cares, cause I'm alone and the world is~_

 _~Having more fun than me tonight…~  
_

– _Simple Plan_

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iv

It was Wednesday. It was not Sarada's favourite day of the week, however that meant she was already done with half of the week and only the other half was left. After all, tomorrow would be Thursday – her second favourite day – and then would come Friday… her favourite day of the week. Usually, she would be more excited and upbeat about today… but that just didn't seem to be the case. Her mind was still plagued with her father and his absence. It was kind of pathetic because that's all she thought about lately. She couldn't remember thinking of her father before this _hard_.

The ravenette sighed and just laid her head on the table with her arms crossed and stared at everyone before her. At the moment, she was at the school's cafeteria and it was lunch time. Usually, she would eat with ChouChou together in their classroom but her friend insisted on eating in the cafeteria today. The preteen hadn't questioned her plea and, honestly, she didn't really care. It's like, she didn't care about anything lately. Ever since her outburst last week on Saturday, things haven't been going well for Sarada. And it seemed that her mama had it worse than before. After talking with Mr. Shimura, she has been working extra shift in the cafe and the girl barely saw her mother home. She was peeved that the old fart manipulated mama like this.

Suddenly, she felt something slam next to her and raised her head to see ChuChou sitting down with her lunch box, "Hey, Sarada!"

The Akimichi girl had returned home on Sunday's morning from her grandmas' place and had complained how _booooring_ it was there.

" _The only interesting thing to do_ _at_ _grandma's place was reading history books… and I hate history!" she whined._

Well. That's a bummer because Sarada actually liked history. The only thing ChouChou had enjoyed were the goods and sweets her granny had baked. The ravenette couldn't disagree because her granny's homemade food was very good ( _not as good as mama's though_ , she thought).

The Uchiha girl returned to her previous position and muttered a "Hey" under her breath. She didn't know why but she didn't feel like talking to ChouChou at the moment. And it was a bit odd since she normally enjoyed talking to her friend, even though she was mostly listening to her talking.

"Why are you laying on your table?" her friend inquired curiously. The raven haired girl straightened herself up and turned to her friend, "No reason."

Her friend just shrugged it off while biting into her homemade sandwich and turned to glance outside the window that was nearby. Her calm and nonchalant expression turned into a scowl, "Oh, come on! It's still raining!? It's like the fifth day this week! How depressing…" she ended with a mutter. Sarada turned to her friend a little annoyed as she quietly disagreed with her. There was nothing wrong with the rain. Besides, after the rain always came the sun, right? However, the positive statement didn't lighten her up as she looked outside the window. It really did look _depressing_. And now, it described her state as she was still waiting for the sun to appear.

So she turned to her friend and agreed in a mutter, "Yeah, it kind of is."

"I know right?" ChouChou then turned her attention away from the window and looked elsewhere. Sarada also turned at the direction ChouChou was staring at and noticed that it was one of her classmates. His name was Mitsuki and he was the new student that came to their school a while ago. His hair was light blue and shaggy and his eyes were somewhat gold. His skin was pale, almost white – it was as if he never went outside in the sun, although Sarada doubted it was case.

Mitsuki wasn't a bad person – in fact he seemed quite optimistic and cheerful and usually smiled whenever he was in a good mood. He was usually calm and didn't cause any trouble as far as the ravenette knew. Then again – who knows. He had become friends with Boruto as well, and, while the blond was more energetic than him, he was also less cheerful than him and could be cold and even snap at others, especially when he was in a bad mood. It was as if they balanced out each other. The Uchiha girl had met and even had a conversation with the boy, however she wouldn't consider him as her friend since she really didn't know him that well. The only thing they had in common was that Boruto was friends with the both of them.

"What do you think of Mitsuki?" she inquired curiously to her friend. ChouChou still kept her attention on him as she answered, "Meh. Not that interesting, to be honest. A bit odd as well. And he also has that condescending look whenever he is looking at me! He is such as jerk…"

Sarada sweat-dropped anime style as she listened to her friend complaining about their classmate. "He is not really that bad, you know…" she defended him.

Her friend turned to look at her as if she was crazy but then a thoughtful look appeared on her face as she nodded in agreement, "Yeah. Inojin is way worse."

The raven haired girl sweat-dropped again and commented dryly, "You don't say…"

"Did I hear someone mention my name?"

ChouChou stopped eating her sandwich and her lips turned into a thin line. Sarada knew that look – it meant ChouChou had become upset. Sarada turned to the source of the voice and saw one of her classmates – Inojin Yamanaka. Like Mitsuki, he also had a pale skin but at the same time he looked… even _paler_. If Sarada didn't know any better, she would think he would literally never go outside. His pale complexion was inherited from his father, while the blonde hair and mint green eyes was from his mother.

Even though Sarada had known Inojin for many years since their moms were friends, she wouldn't consider them… the _bestest_ of friends. Inojin was very blunt which caused him to insult others many times and sometimes the girl didn't know if he was aware that he had offended someone or not. Although she was positive that he meant every word he said since he could be quite a jerk as well…

ChouChou turned to their blond classmate and scowled at him. "What do you want, Inojin?" she asked sourly.

"Well, fatty," he addressed the Akimichi girl as he propped himself on the table with his elbows, "I was walking by your table when I heard you mention my name and I couldn't help but wonder why you were talking about me in first place."

A sneer was plastered on the boy's face and Sarada narrowed her eyes at him. _He would better not be causing any trouble…_ she thought to herself as a glare formed on her face. Inojin could be so _irritating_ sometimes. She didn't hate him but this _arrogance_ he was displaying right now… was one of those traits she disliked in people in general. And also one of the reasons why she wouldn't be friends with someone like _him_.

ChouChou sighed annoyed, "When will you get it through your thick head that I don't care what you think of me, Inojin? Also, since you are so curious to know why were talking about you, then here is the truth – I was comparing you to Mitsuki."

Inojin narrowed his eyes at her, "And what kind of conclusion did you come up with?"

A smirk formed on her lips, "That he is _better_ than you."

Both were stuck in a staring contest and Sarada felt nervous all of a sudden. She really hoped they wouldn't get in an argument, much less in a fight. ChouChou and Inojin had also known each other for years since their parents were good friends back when they were young. However, just like with her and Inojin, ChouChou and him also weren't friends. ChouChou didn't really care for him, however she would sometimes complain to her about the blonde. She didn't know if they had gotten physical with each other before, but she knew they could argue all day.

She spoke to both of them lowly, "Come on, guys… don't argue. Let's settle this without any disputes."

The boy's eyes snapped to her and asked harshly, "Why does it matter to you if we argue or not? It doesn't involve you anyway!"

Sarada sighed annoyed inwardly. If he wasn't already arrogant enough, he could be so _difficult_ sometimes, "It might not involve me but I don't want ChouChou to get in trouble! And I doubt you want to get in trouble as well."

"Yeah but–"

"I agree with her, Inojin. Fighting with our classmates could get you in trouble."

The Uchiha girl was taken by surprise when someone intervened in her friend and classmate's stare-down and whirled around to see Mitsuki standing with a frown on his face. What was he doing here? And how did he know they were about to argue? She glanced at the Yamanaka boy to see him standing there, speechless for a moment, but then he collected himself and pointed at her, "She was the one who started it!"

Mitsuki just rolled his eyes and rebutted, "No, she didn't. You are just looking for an excuse to blame someone for your bad mood."

"But–"

"Mitsuki is right, dude," a lazy voice interrupted the blond boy once again, "It would be troublesome if you got in trouble again. Besides, aren't you still grounded from last week?"

It was Shikadai – another classmate of hers. And mama knew the boy's parents as well since she was a teenager – it was really weird how their parents were all bunch of friends… Shikadai was usually relaxed and wasn't as enthusiastic as other children ( _Who am I kidding,_ Sarada thought to herself, _he has no enthusiasm at all!_ ). In that sense, he is quite similar to his dad, and she was not even going to mention their _similar_ hairstyles…

But mama had told her that Shikadai had a few traits from his mom as well, in both appearance and personality. Obviously, he had got his teal-coloured eyes from his mother ( _"If he didn't have the pineapple hairstyle, he would look like a mini-Temari," her mama sometimes joked._ ) and, like her, he is very outspoken and straightforward and sometimes would criticise others if he felt like it.

She watched the blond open his mouth as if to argue back but then clamped it shut and slumped his shoulders in defeat. He answered grouchily, "Fine."

Then he looked at ChouChou and bored his eyes into hers, "This isn't over yet." He did the gesture of pointing his index and middle fingers at his own eyes and then at her as if to tell her that he was watching her. Her friend rolled her eyes as Inojin left with Shikadai following behind.

Once they were gone, Sarada peeked at Mitsuki who kept staring at the same direction. "Uh…" she started quietly, "Thanks."

The boy then looked at her and flashed her a smile, "You are welcome. I am sorry if Inojin bothered you – he has been very cranky lately."

The girl wondered if it had to do with anything when Inojin defaced the school walls with spray paint. Apparently some older kids had offered the blond to paint some graffiti since Inojin was quite well known for his artistic skills. However, someone had most likely seen them and then had gone to a random teacher to snitch on them. Boruto had also been involved but not by causing trouble. He told Sarada that he had seen Inojin with the older kids spraying paint on the walls and had warned them about the consequences if they kept going at it. When the teacher had found them, she must have thought that Boruto was one of the troublemakers and, even though he kept insisting that he had nothing to do with it, she hadn't believed him since he would get in a lot of trouble as well. Although, in Sarada's opinion, Boruto had matured over the years and he deserved some credit given to him…

"I see," she nodded, "So… why aren't you with Boruto?"

"Yeah, why _aren't_ you with him?" ChouChou asked him mockingly, "Aren't you two usually joined at the hip?"

Sarada gave her a quick side glare as Mitsuki sat down and answered, ignoring her taunting, "Himawari had got a head trauma in gym so he rushed over there to make sure he is okay."

The ravenette became concerned, hearing about the little girl's condition, and quietly spoke, "That's terrible. I hope she will be alright."

"Hopefully." Then he looked at her, "Your name is Sarada Uchiha, right?"

She gave him a nod, "And you are Mitsuki."

"That's right. Boruto told me about you."

Curiosity passed through her, "And what did he say?"

The boy chuckled: "Nothing bad, of course. Just that you have been…" he glanced at ChouChou, "joined at the hip since birth."

Her friend muttered, "Copycat."

The Uchiha girl smiled lightly at him, "That's true. We have known each other since birth. Although… we weren't always friends."

He feigned surprise, "Oh? Is that so?"

"Yeah," she admitted sheepishly as she rubbed her arm, "I guess you can say we were… rivals. We would always argue about who was fastest one, the smartest, the coolest… well, basically about everything."

"Really?" he asked curiously, "What changed between the two of you? What made you both stop disliking each other?"

She shook her head, "I didn't dislike Boruto," then she thought about her answer, "Well, maybe a _little_. But I usually looked forward to seeing him, even though he would annoy and tease me. For some reason I enjoyed it."

Then she became quiet, "It all changed one day when we were talking about our parents. All of the children were talking about their moms and dads and their jobs and hobbies and so on but when it was my turn… I could only tell about my mama."

His expression softened and he murmured, "Why is that?"

Only then did she realise what she had told him and mentally slapped herself on the forehead. She shouldn't be talking about her private life and problems to random people! _Stupid, stupid, STUPID!_ She chanted to herself. But as she peeked at the boy from a corner of her eye, she noticed that he was looking at her with concern. She didn't see Mitsuki as a bad person, in fact he seemed very sincere and nice. He also didn't appear as the type who would go around gossiping.

Could she trust him? The girl eyed him and thought back to that day when she and Boruto became friends.

But then a huge lump she couldn't swallow appeared in her throat and she couldn't speak as she opened her mouth. It hurt her so badly so talk about her father and reminiscing memories involving him made it even more painful for her. She didn't understand – why did he leave such an effect on her? The thought of her dad made her eyes water but then she blinked the tears away – she didn't want her friend and her classmate to worry about her. She saw their concerned looks and inwardly felt terrible for making them worry about her. Although ChouChou (and Boruto too) knew that her papa was absent all her life and it was painful for her to talk about him, she didn't know about the internal conflicts and emotional pain she went through daily. Of course, it wasn't her fault because the ravenette didn't tell her any of that so she wouldn't burden her with her own problems.

However, it wouldn't hurt if she told them about it a little bit, would it?

She pressed her lips into a thin line and answered, "That's because I have never met my papa. All my life he has been absent and I don't even know where he is." Her voice cracked at that. _Darn it, Sarada!_ she berated herself, _You shouldn't cry in front of them! Do it when you are alone home with no one around!_ "And that's not all. I also know nothing about him. Well, I do but only what my mama has told me. But otherwise – just nothing. And I only know how he looks like from this one picture we have in our living room. And that's the only picture we have of him."

"Sarada…" Mitsuki spoke her name quietly, sympathising with her.

She took a deep breath, "Anyway. When I didn't speak about my papa and just stood in front of the class quietly, everyone was confused. They were wondering why I didn't say anything. Our teacher thought that I was just shy and was encouraging me to tell everyone about him. I didn't want to be pestered anymore so I told everyone his name and said that's all I knew about him. And then…" and she stopped talking.

"And then?" Mitsuki prodded her to talk.

Her expression turned into a frown, "Everyone started laughing. They were all laughing and pointing fingers at me. They said that I must have a bad memory if I don't know my dad and his face and that I should get checked out at a doctor. They also said that I should spend more time with my dad instead of reading all the time. But then… some kids said that I probably didn't love my dad because he was an alcoholic or something."

Silence fell across their table as the chattering in the cafeteria kept going. Both ChouChou and Mitsuki had stunned expressions on their faces while staring at Sarada who was sadly looking elsewhere. ChouChou was the first one to break the silence, "Hold on! Why didn't I know any of this!? If I had known I would have totally kicked those jerks' butts!"

The ravenette shook her head, "You weren't school that day. That's why you didn't know."

"But… why didn't you tell me?" the Akimichi girl asked with an accusing tone to her voice, "I thought we were best friends."

The blue haired boy cast an irritated glance at her, "You do realise it's not easy for some people to talk about such topics?"

She huffed at him, "Well, excuse me for being concerned about my best friend!"

"Guys, please!" Sarada stood up and placed her hands on the table, "Stop arguing. It's not worth it."

Then she looked at her friend with remorse, "I am really sorry, ChouChou, for not telling. And before you ask, I do trust you. I just didn't want you to be burdened by my problems."

"Well, you still should have told me," she said sourly.

"What happened then?" Mitsuki inquired.

She sighed and spoke softly, "I started crying. The teacher saw that I was really upset and decided to take me to the nurse's office so I could calm down. The nurse gave me a lot of water though, saying that I needed it after all the extensive crying."

"Wow." ChouChou commented dryly.

"It was kind of weird," Sarada scratched her head.

"No kidding."

Mitsuki was silent for a moment, "What about Boruto?"

The girl spoke, "Well, after I had drank… a lot of water, Boruto came to visit me. At start I wanted him to leave so he wouldn't see me cry again but eventually I gave up because he wouldn't leave anyway. But it was odd. He looked as if he didn't want to be there but at the same time he stayed. And then, after a while, he came to sit next to me on the bed and wrapped his arm around me and both of us just stayed like that." then she glanced at her classmates, "Yeah. That's basically it."

"That's the reason why you became friends?"

She gave a shrug, "I guess you can say that."

Silence fell among them once again. They just stared at each other. After a while ChouChou stood up and announced, "Well, I am done with my lunch. If any of you need me, I will be in the classroom."

The last sentence was directed more to Sarada though. The Akimichi girl went over to hug her best friend as if to say "goodbye" and bent down to her ear level to whisper, "I hope you are alright. Remember one thing – if there is anything you need to talk about, just tell me, okay?"

And without waiting for the Uchiha girl's answer, ChouChou left the table. Sarada mused over what her friend had told her and then sighed. She trusted ChouChou, she really did. And she was a very good friend, despite their differences.

However, there were many reasons why she didn't want to talk to her about her… father. First of all, ChouChou… she just wouldn't understand. Yes, that's right. _She wouldn't just understand,_ Sarada tried to convince herself. She had a very caring and doting father who was always there. She didn't know what it was like to have an absent parent whom she had never met or known.

Second of all, she didn't want to burden her friend and pile her problems on her. She probably had a fair share of them as well. While ChouChou had asked her to tell her anything she wanted to talk about, she doubted her friend wanted to hear about it daily. If she would do it, ChouChou would most likely get sick of her and her negativity and abandon their friendship. Besides, who the heck wanted to listen to some sad girl whine and cry about her issues!?

And… and… Sarada mentally groaned at her poor attempt to come up with more reasons. There had to be more, right? But as she came up with nothing, she slammed her face on the table. She really was hopeless, wasn't she? She was just looking for an excuse to not tell her friend about her problems. Sigh.

"I understand how you feel," a voice interrupted her tornado of thoughts and musings. She picked up her head and glanced at the boy who was still sitting there for some reason. But that wasn't what bothered her. He knew who she felt? She scrunched her face at him in confusion.

"You do?"

He nodded, "Yeah. I mean, I probably don't know what it's like to have an absent parent… but I can somehow relate to you."

She looked at him perplexed for a moment and then quietly murmured, "If… if you don't mind me asking…" she paused and watched as Mitsuki leaned in closer to hear her more properly, "What is your problem?"

The boy blinked at her and then laughed quietly, "It's not exactly a problem… but I am adopted."

Shock was evident on her face as she gaped at him and asked him loudly, "You are adopted!?"

"SHHHH!" He hushed her while placing his index finger in front of his lips, "Not so loud! I don't want the whole world to know!"

"Oh! Sorry…" she grinned sheepishly, ashamed of her outburst, but then composed herself, "But wow… I did not expect that."

He shrugged nonchalantly, "I don't see why is that such a big deal."

"Sorry," she said once again.

"It's fine."

Sarada was silent for a moment as she stared at him. Would it be appropriate to ask him… about his life as an orphan? She didn't want to offend him – she already felt like she offended him by her outburst. She swallowed and gathered up her courage, "Would you mind… if I asked you some questions?"

Mitsuki raised his eye-brow at her, "Well, it depends. If they are too personal, then yes, I would mind."

She shook her head, "No, nothing like that." Then she paused, "At least, I hope so. I don't really want to offend you…"

"Well, like I said before – if they are too personal, then I would mind."

She sighed. Might as well ask him. "Did you… go to an orphanage?"

He cocked his at her question and then answered, "Yeah, I did. That's why I did say I am adopted." He interrupted with a quiet laugh, "However, I only stayed there for a short time."

The girl nodded. "If you don't mind me asking…" she hesitated a bit before asking, "why did you become… orphaned?" He didn't answer right away so she continued, "Did your parents… die?"

"No," he answered immediately, "My _dad_ isn't dead. That's why I told you I could relate to you in a sense."

Suddenly, the bell rang, indicating the end of lunch break. The blue haired boy stood up and then turned to her with a smile, "Let's continue our conversation some other time, shall we?"

Sarada didn't speak for a while as she was surprised by his forthcoming attitude but eventually nodded with a smile, "Sure."

.

.

.

He was supporting his head on the edge of his computer chair as he was deeply thinking. And although he had many documents piled on his desk in front of him, it was the least of his worries right now. The reason for his dilemma was that he couldn't stop thinking about his conversation he had last week with Sakura. He knew she loved Sasuke with all her heart and always wanted the best for him, however he didn't know whether it was a good or a bad thing. He sighed.

Sasuke. Sasuke had been his best friend ever since they had been only learning to walk. Although they would bicker and argue a lot, they were still inseparable. It was the type of friendship you just couldn't end because it was too precious to you. He considered Sasuke his brother and loved him one like too. However, at the same time he hated some things about him too which sometimes caused serious arguments between them.

But what Naruto really hated about him was his bluntness and his way of words. About three weeks ago, the blond went to visit his best friend to see how he was doing, just like he has been doing for the last few years. They usually talked about anything new happening in their lives… well, more like Naruto was the one who talked about himself since Sasuke didn't have a lot to share due to his situation, however, he did tell him about his inmates and other stuff. But three weeks ago when he went to visit the raven haired man, he seemed more silent and distant than usual. Although, it did seem a bit weird to the blond, he shook it off and talked to him like normal.

But the longer he stayed there, the more he noticed something was wrong with his best friend. He tried to talk to Sasuke and understand what was wrong with him but he just brushed it off. He didn't believe him though because he usually knew if something was wrong with Sasuke. He kept prying but his friend wouldn't talk anyway. The more he prodded him to talk, the more frustrated he got. He had told him:

" _Are you seriously going to give me a silent treatment, Sasuke? At least you could tell what's wrong, instead of being brooding bastard!"_

Sasuke, of course, hadn't taken his words kindly and had snapped back at him:

" _What the hell do you think is wrong with me, Naruto? I have been staying in this fucking hell hole for more than ten years when I could have been with my family!"_

His attitude had pissed Naruto off as well and they had gotten in a serious argument which ended with them cussing out each other – the reason why he was mad at Sasuke right now.

He exhaled a breath he was holding in and then thought about Sakura. He felt really guilty for snapping at her like that since Sakura deserved the least of his anger. After all, she had done nothing wrong but been supportive to Sasuke all these years. And she was also aware that they had been best friends for a long time and found it ridiculous that both of them had been fighting. She had tried to convince him that his best friend wanted him to be there to support him. He, however, had stubbornly insisted that Sasuke didn't deserve for him to be there. It caused a slight argument between him and the pinkette since she wanted him to be there for the raven haired man. Sakura had told him:

" _Sasuke-kun shouldn't have said that, it was out of line even for him. But you need to understand how he feels, Naruto. He has missed many years out of mine and Sarada's lives so of course he would be upset."_

He sighed once again. He didn't disagree with Sakura but he was still upset at his best friend. However, Naruto knew that just like Sasuke needed Sakura, he also needed _him_. His best friend. He might be angry at him but he still didn't deserve to be ignored.

Naruto reached for his phone and dialed Sakura's number. He waited a few seconds before he heard a "hello" on the other line. He spoke:

"Sakura? I will be there too."

.

.

.

As she listened to her teacher explain about negative numbers, Sarada couldn't help but think about Mitsuki. While it was a pretty common situation, it was a surprise for her that her blue-haired classmate was adopted. And the way he talked about his situation… it was as if he didn't care. It was as if he was… happy. _Happier_. As she thought of him, she glanced to the left direction to look at him. She watched as he assiduously kept writing everything down in his notes and from time to time looked up at the black board to see anything new written down. She wondered – what did he mean by him relating to her? Mitsuki had said that he was an orphan for a short time, yet his dad was alive. Did that mean… his dad cast him aside? Neglected him? Stopped caring about him? Forgot about him? Just _like_ her papa?

She pursed her lips into a thin line and clenched her fists unconsciously. Just why did her papa have to abandon them? Why doesn't he contact them? Has he stopped caring about them? Or forgot about them? Why did she even care so much about him? She knew that if she didn't love him that much, it wouldn't be so painful for her.

" _I promise you – papa will come home because he misses you, just as much as you miss him."_

That's what mama said. But why did it feel like she was lying? Or giving her false hope? Her expression turned into a grimace. She wanted to believe her mama, yet she felt like she would be misled if she did. She sighed inwardly.

" _But I guess your mother and you weren't good enough for him. Good enough for him to love the both of you."_

She stiffened as she remembered what Mr. Shimura had told her last week and her throat became dry. She started lightly trembling as she kept hearing his words more and more. It was as if he was next to her, whispering them in her ear.

He was right. He was right about her dad. As much as it was hurtful for her to admit, she knew her dad didn't care. But yet. But yet she kept clinging to the words her mom reassured her with. Just why couldn't she finally accept that her dad didn't love them? Just why?

And at that moment, she couldn't help but think about her conversation with Mitsuki…

" _Who would like to be the next one to talk about their parents and their interests?"_

 _The teacher surveyed the whole classroom as the children stopped talking and became silent at her announcement. Sarada was sitting quietly in the classroom's corner and turned her head down once she noticed Moegi-sensei's gaze on her. She didn't want to talk about her parents because it was a difficult subject for her and talking about it was even more difficult. However, luck wasn't on her side this time and she heard her name being called out._

" _Sarada, why won't you tell us about your parents?"_

 _Anxiousness filled her whole being as she stood up on her wobbly legs to walk to the front of the classroom. Her heart kept beating fast once she faced the rest of her classmates. Suddenly, it became hard for her to swallow because all of the eyes were on her looking her up and down. She took a deep breath to calm her nervousness and spoke eventually, "My mama's name is Sakura Haruno. She is a very kind and sweet mama and she makes very tasty bentos._ _She works in a cafeteria and serves food to others and she enjoys reading books about medical studies because she would like to be a doctor one day. She also like_ _s_ _watching_ _funny but lovey dovey movies which is kind of weird..._ _and_ _she_ _also likes the ones with adventures and fighting in it._ _"_

 _A_ _s she finished talking, the girl took a deep breath and stared at her classmates who were staring at her as well. She rubbed her arm nervously and looked down, finding her feet more interesting. She heard others lowly whispering but she ignored them. Her cheeks, however, had reddened from the pressure she felt. Her teacher found her silence a bit_ _unnerving so she spoke to her, "Come now, Sarada, don't be shy. How about you tell us about your dad?"_

 _T_ _he ravenette swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. How could she tell about her papa when she knew nothing about him? It was pointless to talk about him. So she spoke quietly, "I… I don't want to."_

" _Come on, Sarada," Moegi-sensei urged her, "No one is going to laugh at you, no matter what your dad's job is or what his interests are."_

" _But…" she squeaked inaudibly._

" _Don't worry. It's going to be okay." But the little girl just shook her head and continued staring at her feet. Just why couldn't Moegi-sensei understand that she didn't want to talk about it? She was an adult for crying out loud! It couldn't be possible that dumber than her, a child…_

" _Sarada."_

 _She ignored her her call._

" _Sarada." Her sensei spoke louder this time._

 _Still ignored her._

 _Then she felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned to face her teacher. She had a sincere smile on her face, "Come on, Sarada, I know you are a brave girl. So just do it, alright?"_

 _She shifted her leg anxiously, "Ummm… okay."_

 _Sarada then faced her classmates and they all became quiet. She took a deep breath once again, "My papa's name is Sasuke Uchiha. And… that's all I know about him."_

 _It became silent then as no one spoke or said anything. She watched her classmates reaction's but all of them had confusion written on their faces. Her eyes scorned each of her classmate's faces until they landed on a blond boy. Unlike their other classmates, he didn't exactly have an emotion evident on his face. Complete poker face. Although he seemed annoyed and bored at the same time. She furrowed her eyebrows at him and felt furious all of a sudden._

 _Boruto Uzumaki. The biggest jerk she had ever known. He was always annoying and teasing her, laughing at her mistakes and misfortunes. Although, she tried to ignore him, it was pretty hard, considering she saw him every day. He really was_ annoying _. And now he was sitting there, probably thinking he was better than others, and Sarada gritted her teeth at that thought. What a doofus._

 _And then she heard it. Sudden snickers and giggles rang in her ears and she turned away from her blond classmate and saw others with grins on their faces. But those grins weren't friendly at all. They all seemed mean-spirited and they were all directed at her. And it turned into a full-blown laughter as they all chortled and jeered by pointing fingers at her. The ravenette was frozen in her place and couldn't move at all from shock. However, she felt everything on the inside tremble and she felt sick._

 _A boy exclaimed, "You don't know your dad's face!? Hah! You must have a very baaaaad memory if you don't remember how he looks like!"_

 _A girl joined in, "She probably needs to get checked by a doctor! My mom said that children our age are not supposed to have bad memories! Only grannies and grandpas have!"_

" _Meh, I doubt it!" another kid yelled with a toothy grin, "I think she just needs to stay away from her books and spend more time with her pops!"_

" _Well, obviously a nerd like her is too busy for her dad since she needs to be goody-two shoes all the time…"_

" _Or maybe she just doesn't love her dad because he is an alcoholic… or, or something!"_

 _Sarada felt something twist inside of her as she heard the last sentence. As if the other remarks weren't bad enough, did they really have to say that about her!? She felt her eyes water and she didn't bother to hide the tears that had begun sliding down her face. She placed her hands on her face as she sobbed quietly. Moegi-sensei noticed it and then clapped her hands loudly, silencing the class, "Alright, that's quite enough! You shouldn't say such things about your classmate! I am very disappointed!"_

 _And the teacher turned to Sarada and comforting her, "Come on, please don't cry…"_

 _Her pleas were ignored as the little girl sobbed even harder, the only sound in the classroom and it made her other classmates a bit uncomfortable. Moegi-sensei sighed as she grabbed Sarada's hand and together walked towards the classroom's exit. As they both approached the door, Sarada glanced back at her enemy. He still had his emotionless facade, however he seemed to be staring at her. His eyes were boring into hers and she turned away discomforted. He must think she was a loser…_

 _And the worst part was that he saw her crying which was something she never did in front of him._

 _._

 _._

 _._

" _Here, have another cup of water."_

 _Sarada frowned lightly, "But I am not thirsty anymore…"_

" _Nonsense. You need to drink a lot of water now after all that crying. It will help you calm down."_

 _Although she wanted to argue with the nurse, she decided against it and with a quiet sigh she pressed her lips to the plastic cup. She was surprised that even after three cups, she was still thirsty._

" _Will you go back to your classes now?" the nurse questioned, "Because you can also stay here if you don't feel comfortable enough right now to be there."_

" _Won't I get in trouble?" came from the little Uchiha girl quietly._

" _Of course not," the older woman dismissed the idea, "I will tell them you didn't feel well enough to be continuing your classes."_

 _Sarada nodded, feeling satisfaction emerging. She didn't want to go back yet. The nurse continued, "If you want, I can also call your mom or dad and inform them about your situation. Would you like that?"_

 _Her eyes hardened at the word 'dad' but shook it off. "Can… can I think about it?" she inquired quietly._

 _The nurse nodded with a smile, "Of course. Now, have a rest." With that she left the room. The raven haired girl sighed and tucked her legs against her chest. Her lower lip trembled and she felt her eyes water, as she tried not to sob. She had completely embarrassed herself in front of others. Why, oh why Moegi-sensei had to call her in front of the class? She wiped her eyes from tears and wrapped her arms around her knees, staring down at her feet. The subject about her family was a touchy one so that's why she didn't want to talk about it…_

 _She jerked away from the trance when she heard footsteps and raised her head to see who it was. Her eyes widened once she saw who it was. What was_ he _doing here? Was he here to laugh about her performance in the class? Tease her about her family? Make fun of her misfortune?_

" _Hey," came the abrupt greeting from him._

" _Go away," she said harshly as she glared at him. He looked at her with confusion, "Why? Don't you want me to be here?"_

 _She shook her head, "Of course not! You are here to ridicule me, aren't you!? Well, I don't want to hear it! So, go away!"_

 _His blond hair shadowed his face as he gritted out, "I am not here to ridicule you. I came here to see if you were fine."_

 _Her eyes widened at his confession. He… he was not here to make fun of her…? Or tease her? Or laugh about her? The idea of him doing it actually saddened her. Although she may dislike him and his teasing sometimes, she still cared about him. She then noticed that blond was glaring at the floor with his fists clenched. He looked frustrated and as if he didn't want to come. Her eyes narrowed into a glare and gritted her teeth. Why was he even here if he didn't_ want _to be here? For a moment there, she actually thought he cared…_

 _She then shook her head vigorously and reminded herself that he probably hated her and didn't care for her. And besides, Moegi- sensei most likely sent him here… She clenched her fists in anger and hurt. Well, she didn't want to see him! In fact, he was the last person she wanted to see right now!_

" _Well, it doesn't look like you want to be here! I bet Moegi-sensei forced you to be here, otherwise you would have never come!" She snapped at him, with hurt evident in her voice._

 _Her back was turned on him and she heard Boruto sigh quietly. Hopefully, he will leave now, she thought quietly. However, luck wasn't on her side as she heard him walk towards her. She was staring at her feet once again when she saw the blond stand in front. He scrutinized her for a moment and then spoke, "You are crying."_

 _Surprise flashed through her and she lifted her hand to her face to confirm it. Well, that's just great. Not only he saw her crying once but twice. She exhaled quietly and dropped her head on her knees, muttering, "Just go away…"_

 _He didn't budge from his spot though. Instead he jumped on the bed next to her as she watched him curiously, "What are you–"_

 _His arm wrapped around her shoulders and moved closer to her. She glanced at him as he was staring somewhere far-off. He wasn't glaring though, his expression had softened up. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She decided against it in the end and then looked somewhere else as well._

 _They stayed like for the rest of the afternoon…_

Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder and Sarada jerked away from stupor and faced the person, with a harsh whisper, "What?"

There, in front of her, stood ChouChou, looking at her confused, "The lesson just ended. Didn't you hear the bell?"

 _Oh_. A sheepish grin appeared on her face, "Sorry… wasn't paying attention."

ChouChou shook her head at her friend. That's Sarada for you. She slung her backpack on her lone shoulder and asked, "You ready to go?"

The ravenette nodded, "In a moment." She stood up to place her books and notes in her backpack. Once, she was done, she turned to ChouChou and smiled, "I am now."

She nodded, "Let's go."

Both girls walked out of the classroom and made their way down the hallway to their next lesson. Sarada asked her friend, "What is our next lesson?"

ChouChou shrugged carelessly, "Gym, I think. I am glad that's the last lesson of today."

"Oh, okay. Thanks," the girl answered as they continued to walk. But all of a sudden, alarms started going off in her mind and her eyes widened, "W-Wait, what!"

"Sarada…?" the Akimichi girl stopped once she noticed her friend had also stopped and her eyes and mouth were wide open. _What's wrong with her?_ She wondered perplexed.

"We have gym?" she suddenly squeaked. When she received a nod from her friend, she started trembling. _Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, OH MY GOSH!_ This was not happening! Why was this happening _now_!? _I think I am going to faint…_

"Woah, Sarada, are you okay!?" came an exclaim from her friend as she ran towards her to steady her, "You are hyperventilating!"

Sarada was breathing irregularly as she felt her eyes water from the pressure she was experiencing at the moment. "We have gym!" she shrieked and felt like she was going to puke any minute, if not faint.

ChouChou raised her eyebrow, "So…?"

The preteen girl snapped her head to her friend and stared at her as if she was crazy. So? So!? Did she seriously forget!? On Monday, they had gym and their skills in soccer were supposed to be tested. However, their gym teacher had decided to postpone it till Wednesday so she had been excited about these changes of events. But now the anxiety was back because she had completely forgotten about soccer. She was already struggling in sports and she didn't want to receive a lower grade than the average she already had! "Our skills in soccer are tested today!" she stressed to her friend, "I can't do any of the moves!"

"Dude," her friend said dryly, "I think you are worrying too much. It will be fine. Besides, we only have to do one move. Dunno which one though."

"No, it won't be fine!" she snapped, frustrated with her friend's lack of understanding, and then clutched her head while whining quietly, "I am so going to fail…"

"Calm down, you won't fail," ChouChou insisted.

"Yes, I will!" the raven haired girl replied stubbornly.

ChouChou rolled her eyes. She could be so _impossible_ sometimes. "Fine," she spoke, "While you will be feeling sorry for yourself, I will be getting ready for gym. See ya." And she strutted away.

Sarada glared at her friend as she caught up to her. "I am not feeling sorry for myself," she muttered annoyed.

"Suuuuuure, you aren't."

.

.

.

They were doing laps around the gymnasium, and so far it was alright. However, Sarada was still anxious about the test and had a hard time jogging. Her stomach was doing flips from nervousness and she felt she was going to hurl any moment. The thought of doing that was _embarrassing_. Although, at this point she would rather hurl and pretend to be sick than perform her 'amazing' soccer skills in front of everyone and then fail. Her hands started shaking and her breathing became uneven again.

"Alright, that's enough," the coach called out, "Now, let's do some stretching exercises."

Sarada watched as everyone started stretching and sighed quietly. She might as well start stretching. Then she noticed ChouChou strutting towards her, who was breathing deeply, "Geez… I feel so pumped out. Is it just me or did we run more laps than usual?"

She shrugged, "Maybe." She stretched her arms and felt them loosen up. ChouChou joined in as well. "Soooo…" she drawled out and the raven haired glanced at her, "You okay, now?"

She glanced down at her feet and replied quietly, "I guess so."

Out of a corner of her eye she saw Boruto, Mitsuki and the rest of the boys hanging out and laughing about something. They were all so carefree… unlike her, they didn't have to worry about their grade in gym. Especially, Boruto and Mitsuki. And, well, Metal Lee too – another classmate of hers. If only she excelled in sports just like they did…

"Okay, that's plenty enough," the coach called again, "Anyway, as you all remember, I put off your skill testing in soccer till today so I hope you are all ready."

Sarada's legs became jelly like and started fidgeting like crazy while swallowing hard multiple times. Her anxiety multiplied as well. "Alright… the first one is Shikadai Nara."

The said boy perked up at his name being called out and looked at their sensei bewildered, "Wait, what? But I am not the first one on the list."

"I am calling you out in mixed order. So go on, Nara."

Shikadai groaned tiredly and muttered "Troublesome" under his breath and went over to his teacher to get over with passing the test. Sarada was trembling all over as if she was having seizure. What? They were being called out in mixed order!? That would mean that it could be her turn any moment! Heck, she might as well be the next one!

As if it wasn't bad enough that she was already failing gym, their gym teacher Shin was a strict sensei and would yell at them if they did something wrong in regards to sports. Basically, not a lot students liked him, but unfortunately they had to deal with it. Sometimes, he would even laugh at some students' misfortune and it looked like he enjoyed it. He was truly indeed cruel. And for some reason, Sarada felt like he hated her… well, he hated everyone but it seemed as if he hated her the _most_. He would always glare at her and speak to her harshly, even when he wasn't in a bad mood. It was pretty much hopeless with him. Sigh.

Then she noticed Shikadai walk back to the other boys, with Shin-sensei's eyes boring into his back, "The same grade as always, Nara – C. Do you _even_ try?"

The boy shrugged nonchalantly, "Nah. Soccer is pointless, anyway."

Everyone guffawed at him, some exclaiming, "That's our Shikadai!" and laughter echoed through the whole gym. Sarada couldn't help but let out a laugh as well, forgetting her anxiety for now. What they didn't notice was that their sensei was getting ticked off by every second and then with a shout interrupted their laughter, "SHUT UP! I warn you – one more smartass comment like that and all of you will be getting detention! UNDERSTOOD!?"

Everyone immediately became quiet as some gulped and Sarada felt her anxiety return and she also swallowed hard at the sight of their sensei's menacing and dark expression. Then he straightened up and his face was calm once again. "Moving on…" he spoke, checking the list of their names, "...next up, Wasabi Izuno!"

A groan was heard from the said girl as she came to the front to fulfill her task. And just like that, student after student was called out to show off their skills. The more the sensei called out, the less students there were left. Sarada's anxiety only grew and grew. She noted that they were supposed to zig-zag run around the cones by kicking the ball and in the end shoot a goal in the net. Another girl just finished her test looking pretty proud and their sensei was checking his list. The ravenette noted that Boruto, Mitsuki and ChouChou hadn't also passed the test yet.

"Seeing as we only have four minutes left until the end of the lesson, I will call out only one more person," Shin-sensei said as he stared at all of them, "The rest of you will be tested next week."

Sarada sighed in relief. Only one more person–

"Alright, Sarada Uchiha is up next!"

…until she is free.

She snapped out of her stupor and stared at her sensei, "W-What?"

He looked at her coldly, "You are up next. So stop wasting time and come here."

"B-But–"

"Now!"

She immediately scampered up to him, her nervousness hitting a high wave. He shoved her the soccer ball in her hands and grunted out, "Go."

Her hands were shaking as she placed the ball in front of her feet and shakily lifted her leg to kick the ball. It rolled away diagonally and she ran after it, kicking to the right, and it rolled away once again. She ran after it and kicked it to the left, but this time she kicked the ball too hard and it rolled over to the wall. _Shoot!_ She cursed mentally as she ran after the ball trembling all over. She glanced at her sensei from a corner of her eyes and he seemed to be gritting his teeth. She shakily lifted her leg and kicked the ball back to the cones.

She got on the track immediately and zig-zagged around the cones by kicking the ball. Unfortunately, she kicked it too hard once again and it rolled away from her. Okay, she was definitely going to fail now. She ran after the ball once again and then was about to kick it when she slipped on it and fell down on her belly hard. She moaned, "Owww…"

She heard other children laugh and felt embarrassment surge through her. What the heck!? She might not be goo in soccer but she wasn't clumsy! Her anxiety was seriously getting to her now…

"Get up!" her teacher called over to her furiously. She stood up instantly and prepared to kick the ball again. She was glad, once she got back on track and noted that she was almost done with running around the cones. As she finished, she stood straight and prepared to kick the goal into the net. She quivered as she lifted her leg and got into a position to kick it. She clenched her eyes shut and slammed her foot foot on the ball. She watched as it sped over to the net… only to slam against the metal edge. She stared at it for a while and then hesitantly turned to her teacher. Just like she predicted, he looked angry. What a surprise.

She, however, walked over to him, albeit nervously, and fidgeted before asking, "So, ummm… how did I do?"

He snapped his eyes towards her and he looked so livid that she started to think twice about coming. "You failed," he whispered. Then his voice volume grew as it echoed through the whole gym, "YOU FAILED!"

She flinched at his tone and looked down, rubbing her arm, "I-I am sorry… I wasn't really prepared and–"

"You are never prepared!" he shouted at her, "That's why you are failing all the time! And I sure as hell will make sure to fail you if you keep doing this shit!"

She cowered from him as she shook from his intense voice and felt her eyes water, "I-I didn't mean to… I–"

"Quiet!" he snapped, "I don't want to hear your excuses."

"Hey," someone finally stepped in and Sarada looked up to see Boruto talking to Shin-sensei, "at least try to hear her out, will ya? So what if she failed? There is no need to treat her like that."

The blond looked confident while staring at their sensei and had arms crossed. But he just shook his head, "I don't care about her excuses. She always fails and never tries to better herself. In fact, she did worse this time than usual. That just proves she is _just_ a failure."

 _Failure_. That word hit her hard. She knew she wasn't amazing or anything… but she didn't think of herself as a failure. But now it all made sense. Her father probably left her because she was doomed to be a failure and he had foreseen that. So, not to burden himself, he abandoned her and mama.

" _Why did your father abandon her?"_

" _But I guess your mother and you weren't good enough for him. Good enough for him to love the both of you."_

She couldn't control her tears anymore so they just ran down her face. Her classmates had noticed that but she didn't care. She didn't care at all. After all, why should she care if she was just a failure? Why should she care if her father wasn't with her and mama right now? Why should she care if her life was a mess and nothing was making it better!? She turned on her heel and strutted away from anyone.

"Sarada!"she heard ChouChou call out to her but ignored her. She didn't want to hurt her friend but at the moment she didn't feel like talking to anyone. She fastened up her pace even more when she heard Mitsuki call out to her. He was a nice boy but she didn't want to talk to him either. And when she heard Boruto shout her name, she started running. She ran towards the gym's exit and slammed the doors loudly, after running out of the sports facility. She needed to _get out_ of here. She down the stairs to their dressing room and grabbed her bags, not bothering to change out of her gym uniform, and then instantly ran towards the school's exit. To home.

" _She is_ just _a failure."_

" _But I guess your mother and you weren't good enough for him. Good enough for him to love the both of you."_

"… _your mother and you weren't good enough for him. Good enough for him to love the both of you."_

"… _you weren't good enough for him."_

" _You weren't good enough."_

" _You weren't good enough for him to love you."_

 _He HATES you. AND you are a FAILURE. So that's why he doesn't care._

She tried to clear her head from all these thoughts, yet they clung to her mind as if they were chained to it. And it was hard too. It was hard to not think about papa when that's all she had been thinking about for the last week. She had always yearned for her father to be there but now she yearned for him more than ever. Even if he did hate them – for some reason, she still wanted to meet him… to look at his face and features. And then wrap her arms around his waist and whisper how much she loved him, even though afterwards he would just push her away and just sneer at her. She knew she was pathetic for wanting to hug someone who hated her–

She tripped over suddenly and – THUD! – fell down on the hard pavement. Her vision became dark for a moment before she could see again. She felt everything ache all over and groaned quietly from the pain. She probably had bruises and cuts too. She shakily got on her knees and cried out in pain once they touched the surface as she fell down on the pavement again. She turned around on her back and tried to sit up. As she sat up, she started inspecting her knees and, just as she thought, they had deep scratches on them which were bleeding at the moment and further down her leg there were already ugly bruises forming. The ravenette winced. That was going to take a while for it to heal. She also checked her arms and hands and saw lacerations and bruises there as well.

And if having deep scratches and bruises wasn't bad enough, her gym uniform was wet and dirty. She glanced behind herself and saw a small puddle with mud mixed it it. She groaned again but this time from annoyance. This was so not her day. She flinched at the pain that coursed through her body as she tried to stand up and picked up all her belongings that had fell down during 'miraculous' performance and walked away.

She shuffled through the city and looked everywhere around her. People were busily bustling through the crowd and minding their own business, not noticing anything around them. She passed down a shop and glanced at its window and saw her reflection. She looked completely _pathetic_. There were bruises, lacerations and scratches all over her body, and not to mention the dirt and mud on her gym uniform. Her glasses shadowed her black pools of her eyes and she wore a frown on her face. She was unhappy. She turned away from the window and walked towards the direction of her home, looking down the whole time.

She had completely embarrassed herself in the gym by showing off her scarce skills in soccer. Not only her sensei was furious at her and making her feel inferior, but her classmates were laughing as well. She should have just pretended to be sick and then gone home, like ChouChou usually did when she wasn't prepared for something. But Sarada wasn't like that. She was usually honest and would always attend all of her lessons. Even Shin-sensei's, as much as she disliked him.

She raised her head and saw the flat she and mama lived in and fastened her pace towards it. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to encounter Mister Shimura this time… Her day would definitely become worse then. Soon she made her way inside the flat and started walked up the stairs to her apartment. She took out the keys out of her bag and unlocked doors. Once she stepped inside the room and locked them, she let out a big sigh. For a moment she just stood at the entry way but then her emotions got the best of her and she slumped against the doors, falling down on her bottom, and sobbed quietly in her hands.

Her life was a complete mess. She had a mother who was working endlessly to pay off the debt, a father who was never there, friends who were going to abandon her sooner or later – who would wanna be friends with a pathetic idiot like her, anyway? –, classmates who always teased and made fun of her and talked about her behind her back, sensei who probably didn't care and a landlord who is about to kick her and mama out of the house. And now she was bruised and dirty all over.

It couldn't get worse than that, could it?

"Sarada? Is that you?" a voice called and the girl stiffened.

 _MAMA!?_ She was home already!? She turned her head swiftly to the clock and saw it was only 2:34 pm. _Mama isn't supposed to be home yet! What is she doing here!?_ The girl thought frantically and started shaking for an umpteenth time that day. When she decided to ran home after her gym class, she hadn't thought of the possibility of her mom being home since she had a double shift today. In fact, she wanted to be alone this whole time because she didn't anyone to see her state. And speaking of her state… How the heck was she going to explain the bruises and the cuts!? She wanted to hide them from mama until they completely healed. And she also didn't want mama to see her cry! That would raise questions and suspicions.

She heard footsteps and tried to get away but when she tried to stand up, pain shot through her and she cried out in pain. "Sarada, are you alright–" the voice had paused and a gasp was heard instead. Sarada looked up and saw her mother who had her hand pressed to her mouth – she looked shocked and terrified at the same time. "S-Sarada…" mama choked out and she saw tears form in her eyes, "W-What happened to you…?"

Sarada felt her heart squeeze painfully in her chest at the sight of mama's tears. She opened her mouth to say something to assure her mama that she was fine but no words came out… she would be lying anyway if she said she was fine. Suddenly, mama got down on her knees and pressed her hand against Sarada's cheek, concerned, "Sarada, what happened to you? Please tell me."

Her lower lip quivered and she felt tears slide down her face again. She made mama worry again. Mama already had too many problems and she was burdening her with even more. How could she be so selfish…? Mama deserved better than this…

She heard another set of footsteps and a lower voice – _a man's_ – spoke, "Is everything alright, Sakura?"

She raised her head at whoever had spoken but once she saw the man in front of her, her eyes widened. This man had lengthy black hair which almost covered his left eye and had onyx eyes which resembled _bottomless pits_. At the moment, he had no emotion on his face, however he did look solemn and had his arms crossed. What freaked the little girl out a bit was how he greatly resembled the man in the picture frame. And then it finally clicked to her.

Mama had also turned to look at the man before she glanced back at her, "Sarada… this is–"

"...Papa?"

 _tbc_

Well. I finally updated. Honestly… I have got no excuses as to why I updated only a year later. Tbh, I don't even know myself. I mean, I know I am lazy but at the same I had no motivation?

And to be fair, I have also been thinking of other animes and cartoons. I had gotten into Digimon again (I have been watching Digimon ever since I was a little kid and ofc the first season is the best one) and I decided to write a fanfic about it but of course I haven't finished the first chapter yet. Then I got into Powerpuff Girls because of PPGxRRB (lol) and I also watched the anime version of it and… liked it better than the original lol But yeah, I have this fanfic idea of PPG as well but I haven't written it down yet.

Then I watched a lot of ghibli movies (my first one was Howl's Moving Castle) and I fell in love with The Cat Returns, a really amazing movie. Then I got an idea to write a Star Wars fanfiction, starring all the ghibli characters lol I started writing it but – guess what – I still haven't finished it!

And then I got into Sailor Moon (this summer) and now I am waiting for the new Viz English Dub because there is no way I will watch the horrendous Clowerway Dub. Usagi sounds like a grandma in the old dub… ^^''

And then I watched Death Note which my best friend suggested and… yup. Here I am. Yeah, Idk why I wrote all this either lol

Anyway, about Shin giving Shikadai C, I actually looked up Japanese Grading Academics and the also had letters, with S being the best. Telling you this in case you are confused

Also, I am sorry for some curse words in this chapter. I usually don't curse so I kind of feel bad ^^''

Sorry, if this came out bad as well. My writing skills are pretty rusty so ofc this sucks

Constructive criticism is accepted and note me if smth confuses you. I will try to correct that.

and please review and favourite. I would appreciate that. Till next time :)

~Sasuke-n-Tomatoes


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